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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 






AN 

ISLAND 
SR CRE r 





AN 

ISLAND 

SECRET 

BY 

EARLE c. McAllister 

M 

Author of “ On Tower Island ” 

Illustrated by 

J. W, FERGUSON KENNEDY 


BOSTON 

DANA ESTES & COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 



ffi X 



Copyright, igog 

By Dana Estes & Company 


All rights reserved 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


Electrotyped and Printed at 
E COLONIAL PRESS; 
.Simonds CS!, Co.,Boston,U.S.A. 



Introduction 


Last spring when the author chanced to be in 
Stroudport, down in the Pine Tree State, he called 
at the State Agency of the Liberty Mutual Life 
Insurance Company, and by good luck found Val 
Brandon at his desk. 

“Val,” said I, after we had exchanged greet- 
ings, “ you told me about your experiences on 
Tower Island; how Major Bangs and his gang 
carried off you and Cal and Sumner ; and how you 
outwitted them and prevented them from carry- 
ing out their scheme to cheat the life insurance 
companies out of half a million. 

“ In fact,” I ran on, while Val favored me with 
a keen glance, “you may be aware that those 
adventures have been immortalized in a book 
called ‘ On Tower Island.’ ” 

“ I am very much aware of it,” was the laugh- 
ing reply. “ The notoriety of that affair was in- 
convenient at the first, but after your book 
appeared it was positively painful. And the let- 
ters I got! ” 


VI 


INTRODUCTION 


“ Letters? 

“ By the peck. Some of them wanted to know 
if it really and truly happened. About a dozen 
wanted to borrow the ‘ Spitfire ’ and go on a 
cruise. A lot said they couldn’t find Tower Is- 
land anywhere on the map, and believed the whole 
business was a fake.” 

Did you bother to answer any of them? ” 

“ Why, certainly. I picked out all the different 
questions and wrote up a set of answers, had them 
printed on a duplicator, and sent out to every one. 
It read something like this: 

“ ‘ The author of “ On Tower Island ” stuck to 
the facts as well as he could. Of course it hap- 
pened just as sure as I’m living. 

“ ‘No, I have nothing to lend; I need the 
“ Spitfire ” in my business. 

“ ‘ If you look in the right place you will be sure 
to find Tower Island.’ And so forth, but most 
of them demanded to know what the two ciphers 
meant, and what became of the crazy engineer 
Marshall, and of the deck-hand Fenderson, both 
of whom I had last seen on Whale Island.” 

“ And what could you say to that? ” I inquired. 

“ I told them you were going to write another 
book, and if they were good waiters they would 
get the rest of the story sometime. Was I right? ” 

“You were just right,” I exclaimed, enthusias- 
tically; “and now won’t you tell me all about 
what happened next?” 


INTRODUCTION 


Vll 


Val Brandon’s features relaxed into a reminis- 
cent smile. 

“Well, you see, it was this way,” he began; 
and as he had a little time on his hands he spun 
me the yam I was anxious to hear. Later I re- 
newed my acquaintance with Carroll Morse and 
Sumner Parker, and they filled in several details. 
As some of you who read “ On Tower Island ” 
have asked for more about these friends of mine, I 
have written out the story of “An Island Secret;” 
and in it you will find out all about the two 
mysterious ciphers, and the adventures in which 
the boys were involved on account of them. 

Earle Cabot McAllister. 


Boston, Massachusetts. 



Contents 


CHAPTER 

I. 

Concerning Ciphers .... 



PAGE 

II 

II. 

The Intruder on the “ Spitfire ” 



29 

III. 

A Chase in the Dark . 



40 

IV. 

Mr. Pike of the Dorabelle ” . 



55 

V. 

The ‘‘Bay Queen’s” Last Trip . 



75 

VI. 

On Board the “ Dorabelle ” 



89 

VII. 

Val Makes a Compromise 



102 

VIII. 

On the Track 




IX. 

The Expedition Starts . 



137 

X. 

Mr. Manning Changes His Mind 



163 

XI. 

The Expedition Pauses . 



181 

XII. 

At Harpsboro 



196 

XIII. 

In Camp 



218 

XIV. 

Hixon Butts In 



249 

XV. 

Carroll Makes a Find and Jim 

Stands 



Guard 



269 

XVI, 

Running the Line .... 



285 

XVII. 

A Trip in the Fog .... 



305 

XVIII. 

At Close Quarters .... 



323 

XIX. 

The Ex - engineer Reappears 



341 

XX. 

Concerning the “ Screamer ” 



356 

XXL 

At the End of the Search . 

. 

. 

376 



List of Illustrations 


“ VaL . . . CAUGHT THE SWIMMER BY THE COLLAR ” { p . 165 ) ^ 

Frontispiece 


Cipher Found on Tower Island 15 

“ He fell with a thump into the row boat” . 34 ✓ 

" Alf turned the light full upon him ” . . . 65 

“ The mate evidently produced the document” . 98^ 

Cipher Found on Stone Horse Island . . . 100 

“ Step by step Jim crept down the incline” . 194 z' 

“He began throwing sticks of wood at the ma- 
rauder ” 282^ 

“ His feet and wrists were firmly tied ” . . 329 / 

“ It was certainly a tug getting that chest up from 

THE BOTTOM OF THE HOLE ” 3^3 



An Island Secret 


CHAPTER I 

CONCERNING CIPHERS 

“ Seeing is believing, Cal Morse. You always 
did like to tell me fairy tales,” remarked Sumner 
Parker incredulously. “ If you can get over to 
the ‘ Hercules ’ on the hawser. I’ll buy you seven 
great big sodas just as soon as we get ashore. 
Come now! ” 

Sumner Parker and Carroll Morse were lounging 
on the after-deck of the ocean-going tug “ Storm 
King,” which, towing four coal barges from Phila- 
delphia, was running in from sea to make Stroud- 
port harbor. Captain Bucklin, the owner of this 
and several other boats like her, usually made at 
least one trip on each of his tugs every year ; and 
when the “ Storm King ” started south this time 
she carried not only her owner but these two 
young friends of his. Sumner was a bright, good- 
natured, roly-poly chunk of a high-school boy, 
11 


12 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


seventeen years old; while Carroll, a tall, well- 
built and muscular fellow, was somewhat older, 
and now enjoying his second summer vacation 
from mental toil at Brunswick College. 

They had enjoyed every minute of the trip, 
and now it was almost ended. They had made 
friends of the tug captain, the mates, and every- 
one else from the chief-engineer down to the cook 
— and he was last but not least, for he told them 
hair-raising tales of being wrecked up in the Arctic 
Circle in winter. Their favorite lounging place 
was the after-deck, where they carried chairs, 
and, seating themselves near the bitts to which 
was attached the tow-line that connected the 
tug with the nearest barge, the “ Hercules," lazily 
watched the big hawser flick the tops of the waves ; 
and it was interesting to see — when there was 
any sea nmning — the showers of spray that 
were thrown up by the blunt bows of the “ Her- 
cules," the “ Ajax," the “ Pocahontas," and the 

Hopatcong," as, strung out in a line behind the 
‘‘ Storm King," they were dragged unwillingly 
toward their destination. 

“ Seven big sodas that you can’t go hand over 
hand on the hawser to the ‘ Hercules,’ ’’ reit- 
erated Sumner, with a laugh that was meant to 
be tantalizing. “Seven — count ’em. One lemon, 
one vanilla, one strawberry, one raspberry, one 
chocolate, one — " 

“ I can do it," interrupted Carroll, intentionally 


CONCERNING CIPHERS 


13 


raising his voice as he caught the sound of Captain 
Bucklin’s footsteps coming toward them; and 
throwing off his jacket — for thirty miles out at 
sea it was cool, though it was a July afternoon — 
he began to unlace his shoes with a great show of 
earnestness. “ Not that I care a snap for sodas,” 
he explained, carelessly, as he tugged at the shoe- 
strings; “ but I don’t back down for any fat kid 
from the Stroudport High School.” 

“ Look here, boys,” broke in the bluff voice of 
the Captain as he rounded the comer at that 
moment, holding a paper in his hand. Whose 
hen-tracks are these? ” 

“ What hen-tracks? ” Carroll asked, pausing 
in his disrobing ; but the tug owner saw the shoes 
lying on the deck, and his attention was diverted 
for the time being. 

“ What are you up to now? ” he inquired. 

“ Sum doesn’t believe I can get over to the 
‘ Hercules ’ on the hawser, and I know I can, so 
I’m going to show him,” explained Carroll. 
Sumner said nothing, for he caught sight of the 
paper and his face reddened. 

The Captain uttered an exclamation of protest. 

“ You’ll do nothing of the sort,” he declared. 
“ If I catch you getting on that line there’ll be 
trouble right off ! ” 

“ But you don’t really care, do you? ” asked 
Carroll, opening his eyes in weU-simulated aston- 
ishment. 


14 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“You don’t imagine for an instant that I want 
you to get drowned now that I’ve got you almost 
back home? ” demanded Captain Bucklin, quite 
severely. 

“ Oh, well, if I had known you would feel that 
way, I’d never have thought of doing it,” said 
Carroll, politely, as he began to resume his 
clothing; but his eyes twinkled, for he had 
expected this outcome to the affair, and really had 
no idea of undertaking such a foolhardy exploit. 

“Now that you have been saved from a watery 
grave, tell me if you know an5rthing about this 
paper,” the Captain proceeded, turning the 
document around so that the boys could view its 
contents. 

“ Where’d you get it? ” asked Carroll, in wonder, 
for he recognized it at once, although it was not his 
property, but Sumner’s. 

“ Cook found it on the galley floor just after 
you fellows had been browsing around for pie. He 
said it wasn’t his — guessed it must belong to one 
of you. What is it? ” 

Sumner’s face assumed a worried expression, 
and he hastily fumbled in the inside of his jacket. 

“ Yes, sir,” he asserted, “ there’s a hole in that 
pocket. You see. Captain,” he went on, “ the cook 
was telling us about the time he was wrecked up 
in Alaska when the snow was eighteen feet deep, 
and — ” 

“ And I suppose that explains why the paper 


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CONCERNING CIPHERS 


15 


slipped through the hole,” the Captain interjected, 
with mild sarcasm. “ If all the yarns that cook 
tells were true, he’d have lived more lives than a 
cat. But, what is it? ” 

“ It’s a copy of the cipher Val Brandon found 
on Tower Island,” said Sumner, seeing that an 
explanation was inevitable. “ ’Twaslast summer, 
when our cruise on the ‘ Spitfire ’ was broken up 
by Major Bangs and Jones, and they had carried 
Val and Cal off to the island on the ‘ Sea Rover.’ 

“ It’s probably the key to hidden treasure,” the 
boy continued, beginning to get enthusiastic, 
“ and I’ll bet there’s thousands of dollars in it if 
we can only find the clew! ” 

“ I ought to know something about Tower 
Island,” exclaimed the Captain, “ but this is the 
first I’ve heard of any cipher being found there, 
and you’ve had it a whole year and never yipped 
about it to me,” and he gazed at the boys quite 
reproachfully. 

Then turning his attention to the paper he 
examined it closely, and it was, to say the least, a 
curious document. It was as large as a sheet of 
foolscap — Sumner had made a full-sized copy of 
the original parchment — and at its top was the 
geometrical figure of a triangle, at whose comers 
were roughly drawn a tower, a horse, and a fish, 
respectively — at least, these were the names the 
boys gave to the objects. The tower was at the 
lower right hand, the horse at the lower left hand 


16 AN ISLAND SECRET 

and the fish at the top, or vertex, of the tri- 
angle. 

Below the triangle and its accompanying pic- 
tures were a number of lines of most unusual 
characters, unlike the letters of any alphabet they 
had ever seen or heard of. Each one of these was 
made up of a vertical line from which shorter lines 
branched out horizontally to right or left, and 
occasionally from these short marks, or arms, 
still shorter marks branched up or down. 

“We never have been able to find out what it 
means,” explained Carroll, “ and we haven’t 
told anyone about it except Jim Hilton and our 
own fathers and mothers.” 

“You see, Jim had a sort of interest in it,” 
broke in Sumner, “ for he and Professor Strodder 
and I found another cipher that looked almost 
exactly like this one — ” 

“What! You found another cipher? Where- 
abouts was it? ” the Captain asked helplessly. 

“ Down on Stone Horse Island, near Codville. 
Don’t you know that place? ” 

“ Rather think I do,” remarked the Captain, 
for it was his relief party on the “ Storm King ” 
the summer before that had rescued Jim Hilton 
and the Professor from the island mentioned, and 
afterwards arrested Jones and released Sumner 
from his clutches while on Val Brandon’s sloop- 
yacht “ Spitfire.” “ But where is the other 
cipher? ” 


CONCERNING CIPHERS 


17 


“ Jones took it away from me,” said Sumner, 
mournfully. “You see, it was just this way,” he 
continued, while the Captain sat down on the rail 
and regarded him expectantly. “ When Jones 
stole the ‘ Spitfire ’ with me on board we were 
blown out to sea, and then driven ashore on an 
island near Codville. 

“ I ran away from Jones and rowed over to Cod 
Island, where Jim Hilton and the Professor 
found me on the beach; they took me to Pad- 
gett’s, and I stayed there a couple of days.” 

The Captain nodded, for he was familiar with 
this part of the narrative. 

“ Now Jim was crazy over a dream he’d had 
about buried treasure,” went on Sumner. “ He 
got the Professor and me to go over to Stone 
Horse Island with him one night when the moon 
was full — ” 

“ What was the dream? ” asked the Captain, 
thoroughly interested in this odd story. 

“ Why, he dreamed that we took a hen and 
rowed to the island at midnight ; then we let the 
hen loose and she led the way to the spot where 
Captain Kidd had buried his treasure. Wasn’t 
that just about the limit? But he’d dreamed this 
three times and thought it was a sure thing, so 
one night we borrowed one of Padgett’s hens and 
went over to the island; but we certainly had a 
fierce time.” 

“ Why — what happened? ” 


18 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“Jim shook the hen out of the bag, and the 
Professor almost fell down on her, and that 
scared her so we lost her. Then the boat went 
adrift, and we had to stay on the island all night ; 
and I tell you it was some chilly till we got a 
driftwood fire going in the lee of that big rock 
they call the stone horse.” 

“ I calculate it was,” agreed the Captain; “ but 
go on. I don’t see any cipher in sight yet.” 

“You will in a minute,” said Sumner. “ After 
a while we went to sleep around the fire; but 
early in the morning that pesky hen began to 
cackle and woke us all up. She’d laid an egg. 

“ Then the Professor said he had just dreamed 
that we dug where the egg was laid and found the 
treasure ; so we dug down a ways, and, sure enough, 
we found a wooden keg. Inside of that was a 
sealed copper tube; and inside of the tube was 
the cipher.” 

“ Well, I’ll be blessed,” cried the Captain in 
astonishment. “But how did Jones get it away 
from you all? ” 

“ Oh, he had a revolver. You see, the ‘ Spit- 
fire ’ floated all right on the first high tide, and ever 
since Jones had been hanging ’round in her trying 
to nab me. He came ashore and surprised us 
while we were looking at the cipher.” 

“ And took it away from you? ” 

“ Yes, and made me go back with him on the 
yacht.” 


CONCERNING CIPHERS 


19 


“ I know — I know — but I wonder what he 
ever did with that document,” the Captain said, 
musingly. 

” He wouldn’t tell me,” said Sumner. 

“ Wouldn’t tell you? ” repeated the Captain, 
in some surprise. “ When did you have a chance 
to ask him? ” 

“ Last August when he was in jail waiting for 
his trial to come off Jim and I went there and 
asked him where the cipher was.” 

“ What did he say? ” 

“ I asked him to please tell us what he did with 
that paper, and he said: ‘ I’ll see you hanged 
first, you young puppy. You’ve made trouble 
enough for me. Get out and leave me alone.’ 

“ ’Twasn’t any use,” sighed Sumner. “ He 
wouldn’t tell me.” 

“ I believe he tore it up and threw it away,” 
CarroU declared. 

“ He didn’t do it while I was around, for I 
would have been pretty sure to see him,” objected 
Sumner, stoutly. “ Besides, he had no reason to 
destroy it.” 

“ Now you look here,” the Captain suddenly 
remarked. “ When we arrested Jones and took 
him aboard the tug he was searched for hidden 
weapons, but we didn’t find any cipher on him.” 

It was apparent that the tug owner’s ideas about 
the matter were focusing on some definite point. 
His auditors listened very closely as he proceeded. 


20 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“ Now if Jones had the cipher when he went 
aboard the ‘ Spitfire/ and didn’t destroy it, and 
didn’t have it when he left her, where is it now? 
Why, hidden on board the yacht this minute,” 
asserted the Captain earnestly. “ Sometime you 
fellows give that craft a thorough overhauling, 
and I’ll bet a cookie you’ll find the missing paper.” 
Carroll rose excitedly to his feet. 

“ You’re right. Captain,” he cried. “ I never 
thought of it before, but I believe you’re right! ” 
“ Of course I’m right,” was the instant retort. 
“ Where does Brandon keep his yacht now? ” 

“ Anchored over opposite the Yacht Club,” 
replied Sumner, “ and the first thing I’m going 
to do is to go out and give her a good ransack- 
ing.” 

“ To-night? ” asked Carroll. 

“ Yes, I’ll go to-night,” was the prompt declara- 
tion. “ Will you go with me? ” 

“ I certainly will. Why, Captain,” Carroll con- 
tinued, pointing at the paper in the old gentle- 
man’s hand, “ we have done our best to find out 
what that means, without the slightest success. 
Val and Sum and I have studied every book on 
ciphers and cryptograms we could beg or borrow, 
and Jim Hilton up in Burlington has waded 
through all kinds of puzzle books. Besides that, 
we’ve read up on all the pirates and buccaneers 
that came to Maine and buried treasure — ” 

Golden ingots, and doubloons, and the vast 


CONCERNING CIPHERS 


21 


loot of treasure ships from the Spanish main, eh? ” 
chuckled the Captain, slapping his knee. 

“Yes, sir; why not? ” Carroll said. “ But 
though we haven’t succeeded in getting a clew to 
this cipher, the other one may be different, and 
give us an inkling of what they are both about.” 

“ Maybe so,” the Captain admitted, as he re- 
turned the paper to Sumner. “ That’s the most 
curious thing I ever saw, anyhow. I can’t make 
head or tail of it; but I’ll be interested to know 
how you get along. 

“ We’ll be sighting the Two Lights soon, and 
a couple of hours more ought to find us tied up at 
Stevens Wharf. Then you can hunt all you want 
to.” 

“ It’ll be seven o’clock by that time, at least,” 
Sumner said, after consulting his watch. “ My 
folks are all down at Orr’s Island, and I can’t get 
there to-night, so I’m ready for the search.” 

“ And my people are out of the city and the 
house is shut up, so I’m homeless, too,” Carroll 
rejoined. “ We’ve just simply got to hunt for 
that cipher.” 

“ There’s no reason why you can’t sleep on the 
tug, if you want to,” suggested the Captain; “ but 
I’m going home.” And so it was arranged. 

Sumner’s watch indicated half -past eight o’clock 
when the “ Storm King,” having anchored her 
barges in the roads, tied up for the night at 
Stevens Wharf in Stroudport. Captain Bucklin 


22 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


immediately departed for his home across the 
harbor in South Stroudport ; while the boys went 
ashore for the first time in several days to make 
the proposed search on the ‘‘ Spitfire ” for the 
missing Stone Horse Island cipher. 

“ Val ought to go too,” suggested Carroll, “and 
we’ll just call him on the telephone and let him 
know what’s up.” 

They headed for the nearest pay-station; but 
it turned out that Val was away from home for 
the evening. 

“ He’s down to the islands insuring somebody’s 
life,” grumbled Carroll, as he hung up the receiver. 
“ I never saw such a fellow for work! But we’d 
better go ahead just the same, hadn’t we? ” 

“Well, I guess yes! ” was his companion’s de- 
cided answer. “ I’ve got a key to the cabin, and 
we’ll get a rowboat and a lantern at the club- 
house. Come on! ” 

As the reader may know, Stroudport boasts one 
of the finest harbors in the State of Maine. The 
inner harbor, where the wharves are located, is 
long and quite narrow, and between it and the 
heaving Atlantic Cape Eastern interposes its pro- 
tecting bulk. Toward the eastward the harbor 
opens out into Stroudport Bay with its “ three 
hundred and sixty-five” islands — a summer 
paradise. 

The club-house of the Stroudport Yacht Club 
— to which organization Val, Carroll and Sumner 


CONCERNING CIPHERS 


23 


belonged — stood on the outer end of a long pier, 
facing the inner harbor; and as Carroll and Sum- 
ner paused, with oars and lantern in hand, at the 
head of the steps leading down to the landing- 
floats, and tried to get a glimpse of the “ Spitfire ” 
at anchor, they saw very plainly the electric 
lights directly across the harbor in South Stroud- 
port, half a mile distant. A yotmg moon peeped 
down through hazy clouds, but its light was in- 
sufficient to reveal the yacht, which the janitor 
assured them was over near the Cape shore. 

The light row-boat that served as tender to the 
sloop was moored to a ringbolt of one of the floats. 
They took possession of her, and with Sumner at 
the oars headed out across the harbor. Sumner 
looked like a pretty fat youth, but a good part of 
his bulk was sound muscle, and he soon had the 
boat going at a rapid pace. They were fast 
approaching the “ Spitfire’s ” anchorage when 
Carroll uttered a sudden exclamation. 

“ Hold on a minute,” he said in a puzzled 
tone. “ Tell me; what’s that queer light on the 
yacht? ” 

Sumner stopped rowing and looked around. 
They were still several hundred feet from the sloop, 
but near enough to see her dimly. The light to 
which Carroll referred was not a bright beam, such 
as a lantern might cast. What they saw was a 
fitful gleam, flitting about the yacht, illuminating 
first one part and then another. 


24 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“ Looks to me like a bull’s-eye lantern,” said 
Sumner under his breath. “ Say,” he gasped, 
with sudden conviction, “ I’ll bet it’s water 
thieves! ” 

“ They’ve got good nerve, I must say, if that’s 
what it is,” was his chum’s reply. “ Row up 
easy, and we’ll take a hand in this business.” 

“ Hadn’t we better go back and get help? ” 
queried Sumner dubiously. 

“ What? Let ’em break in and lug off a lot of 
stuff while we’re hunting ’roimd for the police? 
Not much! Are you scared? ” 

“Well, not exactly scared, you know; but I 
don’t feel as bold as a lion, either,” admitted Sum- 
ner, as after some hesitation he resumed rowing. 
“ I just feel kind of shivery up and down my spine. 
They say these water thieves are a mighty tough 
lot — they’d just as soon knock you on the head as 
not, and a little rather! ” 

“ Oh, that’s all bosh! ” was the reassuring reply. 
“ Just hang on to your courage and we’ll sneak up 
on the quiet and see what’s going on.” 

This exhibition of valor was very comforting to 
Sumner, so, after extinguishing the lighted lantern, 
he rowed along almost noiselessly, while Carroll 
steered and kept his eyes on the yacht. As they 
drew closer he made out a figure in the “ Spit- 
fire’s ” cock-pit, leaning over the companion- 
way. 

“ Somebody’s trying to get into the cabin,” he 


CONCERNING CIPHERS 


25 


whispered. “There! The light’s gone; I guess 
he got in.” 

“ How many could you see? ” Sumner asked 
with a shiver in his voice. “You know these 
water thieves travel in gangs, and while one goes 
in and loots the vessel another stays outside and 
stands guard.” 

“ I saw only one; but of course there may be 
another on the watch somewhere. Wonder where 
their boat is? It must be on the other side — 
perhaps with someone in it. I think we’d better 
row around to the other side first.” 

This plan was adopted. They rowed quietly 
arotmd the bow of the “ Spitfire ” and found a 
rowboat tied to the yacht’s port quarter; but it 
was empty. 

“ One man is working alone,” Sumner com- 
mented in a whisper. “ See here! I’ve got a 
great idea! Let’s take his boat and then go for 
help. That’ll nail him, sure.” 

“ And while we’re gone he’ll discover something 
is wrong and swim ashore — ’tisn’t far to the 
Cape,” Carroll objected. “ No,” he went on, with 
decision, “ I think we’d better go right on board, 
if we can, and find out what’s going on ; but we’ll 
unhitch his boat, just the same, and let her drift 
off. Then if there’s a fuss and he comes out on top, 
we’ll get away in ours, and he’ll be left on the 
yacht, which will give us something of an ad- 
vantage.” 


26 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


It was a simple matter to run in close and sever 
the painter of the rowboat — a dory — and the 
tide, now beginning to ebb, started it gently away 
down the harbor. But when this was accom- 
plished, another difficulty confronted them. 

“ As soon as we start to climb on board, well 
tip the yacht, and then the man will come out 
and find us,” whispered Sumner. “What are 
we going to do? ” 

“ Don’t you worry about that,” said Carroll, 
who had been taking a look around. “ There’ll 
be commotion enough in a minute to cover our 
tracks. Don’t you hear the ferry-boat coming? 
Well, when her swell reaches us, we’ll climb night 
on. What have you got on your feet? ” 

“ Tennis shoes.” 

“ That’s the stuff — rubber soles don’t make 
any noise. Mine are the same. Now just as soon 
as the swell begins to rock the yacht, lay low and 
listen, for the fellow may get alarmed and come 
out. If he doesn’t, we’ll get aboard and look into 
the cabin.” 

They worked carefully in alongside the yacht, 
and Sumner pulled in the oars and fastened the 
painter to a deck-cleat well up toward the bow. 
So for a few moments they lay, each fending off 
the boat to prevent its bumping. On board they 
could hear sounds in the cabin as of someone 
rummaging here and there, and occasionally a 
glint of light showed in the side ports, but no one 


CONCERNING CIPHERS 


27 


came out to reconnoitre. When, however, they 
tried to get a view of the interior through the ports 
they found it impracticable, for these little win- 
dows were in the cabin trunk — that portion 
that rose above the deck, — and were so small 
and so far away that it would be necessary to go on 
board to look through them. 

Between Stroudport and South Stroudport the 
side- wheeled ferry-boat “ Governor Robie ” made 
regular trips, and she was coming over to the Cape 
now, laying a course that would take her within 
a short distance of the “ Spitfire.” Her lights 
were growing momentarily brighter, and the 
chum of her paddles louder and louder. She 
always kicked up a tremendous wake, and as she 
drove past a series of rollers bore down on the 
yacht and set her to pitching violently. 

The instant the “ Spitfire ” began to toss, 
Sumner and Carroll ducked low in the tender, 
for immediately they heard the occupant of the 
cabin move to the companionway, and felt rather 
than saw him look for the source of the disturb- 
ance. Then a voice muttered, “ Only a ferry- 
boat; ” its owner returned to the cabin; and, in a 
second, lightly as a pair of cats Carroll and Sum- 
ner crept on board unnoticed. 

Carroll had no weapon but his fists. Sumner, 
however, scented trouble very strongly, and had 
armed himself with the boat seat he had so re- 
cently occupied. The yacht was still oscillating 


28 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


from the ferry-boat swell when they stepped 
noiselessly to the cabin sky-light and looked in. 
The sight that met their eyes was strange enough. 

Save for one brilliant spot of light the interior 
of the cabin was enveloped in gloom ; but against 
that blackness, and illuminated by a circle of 
radiance that came from an electric hand-lamp, 
there stood forth to view a curious-looking sheet 
of paper, held in a man’s left hand. Nothing else 
was visible except when the man’s head was in 
part silhouetted against the bright circle as he 
bent forward in scrutiny of the paper. 

For a full minute the boys gazed intently at the 
document showing so clearly beneath them. Then 
Sumner gripped his companion’s arm convulsively. 

“ Do you see what he’s got? ” he whispered, 
hoarsely. 

“You bet! ” was the answer, also whispered. 
“ It’s the stolen cipher. Don’t let him get away 
with it! ” 


CHAPTER II 


THE INTRUDER ON THE “ SPITFIRE ” 

A SMALL circle of light illuminating a man’s left 
wrist and thumb, and with it a sheet of parchment. 
At the top of this parchment a triangle, at whose 
comers were rudely drawn three characters: at 
the centre of the top a figure resembling a fish, 
at the lower left-hand comer a horse, at the lower 
right-hand corner a tower. In the body of the 
sheet numerous lines of odd characters, unlike 
the letters of any known alphabet, and the whole 
affair bearing a close resemblance to the document 
Val Brandon had found on Tower Island, a copy 
of which at that moment rested in Sumner Par- 
ker’s pocket. 

This was what Carroll and Sumner saw as they 
started eagerly down into the cabin of the sloop- 
yacht “ Spitfire.” 

Who the man was, they could not tell. The 
electric flash-lamp held in his right hand cast no 
light on his features. But it was apparent that 
the stranger knew what they had only surmised, 
namely : that the missing cipher had been hidden 
on the yacht, for he had beaten them out in finding 
29 


30 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


it. The feeling of surprise that had assailed the 
boys when they discovered an intruder on the 
“ Spitfire ” was intensified greatly by the dis- 
covery that he was bent on the same errand as 
themselves, and had, moreover, been successful 
in the search. 

Sumner bent down and looked closely at the 
odd characters revealed by the electric lamp. 
Was this cipher like Val’s, or wasn’t it? If it was 
the same, well, it wouldn’t be such a terrible 
matter if the man did run off with it; but if it 
was another cipher, then the fellow must give it 
up. 

In a moment Sumner stood erect. Carroll 
could not distinguish his features clearly in the 
dusk, but he felt rather than saw that his com- 
panion was laboring under considerable excite- 
ment. 

“ It’s another cipher. Cal! ” came the whisper. 
“ It’s different from Val’s — I’m sure it is! See! 
The fish is heading the other way from his! The 
letters don’t look the same; and what’s more, 
we’ve got to have it! ” 

“ You bet! ” breathed Carroll, “ but who is he? 
Say, you don’t imagine Jones has got loose from 
State’s prison, do you? ” 

“ What, and come here? ” was the anxious 
reply. “ Lordy, I hope not! If it’s him, he’ll 
skin all right! ” And the bare thought made 
Sumner turn instinctively toward the rowboat. 


THE INTRUDER 


31 


Then, somehow, he lost his grip on the boat-seat, 
and it fell to the deck with a startling clatter. 

The light in the cabin instantly went out. For 
a long moment there was tense silence on the 
“ Spitfire.” Then the man in the cabin emerged 
into the cockpit, coolly turned on his light, and 
flashed it about the deck. 

No sooner had it shown in the faces of the boys 
than Carroll started aft, while Sumner recovered 
his weapon and edged gingerly in the same direc- 
tion. Trouble seemed to loom large on the horizon. 
Out there in the darkness of Stroudport harbor, 
all sort of unpleasant things might happen. 

“ ’Tain’t Jones,” muttered Sumner, for he 
could see enough of the stranger’s outline to tell 
he was a smaller man than the former captain of 
the steam-yacht “ Sea Rover.” However, this 
might be and probably was an equally desperate 
character, and Sumner felt his courage ooze 
rapidly away as he admonished Carroll to go easy 
and take no chances. 

But before Carroll had taken three steps the 
fellow spoke. 

“ Don’t come any nearer,” he remarked, in a 
quiet but incisive voice. “ I didn’t expect to find 
anyone at home, and I’m not looking for trouble, 
but there’ll be plenty of it quick enough if you 
try to stop me from getting away. I haven’t 
damaged the yacht or taken anything that belongs 
to her, as you’ll find.” 


32 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“ Perhaps not,” replied Carroll, pausing in his 
advance when the man spoke; “ but you’ve got 
a paper we want, and we shall have to ask you to 
give it up.” 

“ I won’t, not in a thousand years,” was the 
quick retort. “ In the first place, it isn’t yours. 
In the second place, I wouldn’t give it up if it 
was.” 

“ It’s mine,” broke in Sumner indignantly. 
“ I helped find it! ” 

“ You don’t get it if you talk all night,” was 
the impatient answer. “ Now do I go quietly, or 
will we have a rough-house? ” 

Looks to me as if there was going to be a 
fuss,” declared Carroll, instantly, as he began to 
move toward the cockpit. “ Back me up. Sum, 
and we’ll tackle the fellow.” But he had hardly 
started forward when the stranger shifted his 
light to his left hand, shoved his right into a 
hip pocket, and quickly presented it within the 
circle of illumination holding a revolver. 

“ Now I advise you to stay right where you 
are,” he remarked, quietly but firmly. “ Keep 
perfectly quiet and calm,” he continued, “ and 
I’ll just get into my boat and leave you in full 
possession of the ‘ Spitfire.’ ” 

At this unlooked-for ending of the parley Car- 
roll and Sumner stood stockstill in astonishment, 
not unmingled with fear of bodily harm. Mean- 
while the stranger backed away to the place 


THE INTRUDER 


33 


where he had left his boat fastened, but of course 
he found nothing but the end of the cut 
painter. 

“ Oho! ” he exclaimed. “ So my boat’s gone, is 
it? Well, I suppose you fellows have got one, 
which will do just as well as mine.” 

He flashed his light forward, first along one 
rail and then along the other. Presently discover- 
ing the tender, he started towards it. 

“ Get over on the other side and let me come 
past,” he ordered, and under the persuasive in- 
fluence of the revolver the boys stepped over to 
the starboard side and stood in silent indignation 
while the man went forward and untied their 
boat. 

“I’m not going to stand for this,” whispered 
Sumner, nervously. “ Here goes to do something 
if I get shot for it.” 

“ What did you say? ” inquired the stranger, 
straightening up and facing them as he caught 
the undertone. An instant later with all his 
strength Sumner launched the boat seat full at 
him. Aim in the dark was uncertain, but the 
missile found its mark on the man’s right fore- 
arm. He uttered a smothered cry of pain and the 
revolver clattered to the deck. 

“ Good boy. Sum; give him fits! ” cried Carroll ' 
as he leaped forward. He bore down on the dis- 
concerted fellow, but the result of his onslaught 
was entirely unexpected. The man was standing 


34 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


close to the rail, just on the point of stepping into 
the tender, and the push that Carroll gave in his 
efforts to get a grip caused him to topple over 
backward. He fell with a thump into the row 
boat, and the latter now being unfastened, in- 
stantly began to float away from the “ Spitfire.” 

Sumner, meantime, had found the revolver. 

“ Come back here and give us that paper,” he 
commanded, taking aim, “ or 111 shoot! ” 

The man made no immediate reply. With much 
effort he picked himself up and fumbled at the 
oars. Dark as it was, yet it was evident to the 
boys that their enemy was having difficulty in 
using the arm on which the boat seat had landed 
with such telling force. The right oar didn’t pull 
as strongly as the left, and as a result the boat 
went round in a circle. 

Finally the man abandoned his attempts at 
rowing. He went to the stem and finding a 
sculling socket there, put an oar in position and 
sculled slowly away down the harbor. 

“ Are you deaf? ” demanded Sumner, at this 
juncture. “ If you don’t come back here I tell 
you I’ll fire.” 

“ Shoot all you want to,” sneered the man in 
the boat; “there isn’t a single shot in the old 
gun, anyhow.” And he resumed his sculling. 

Sumner aimed the revolver at the water and 
pulled the trigger five times in rapid succession. 
“ Snap — snap — snap — snap — snap! ” the 



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THE INTRUDER 35 

hammer fell on uncharged chambers. He threw 
it down in disgust. 

“ Aren’t we a bunch of numb-heads? ” he 
exclaimed. 

“ It’s rotten luck,” agreed Carroll, in deep 
chagrin. “ But he don’t get off like this, you 
know.” 

“ Then let’s holler for help,” said Sumner. 
“ He’s getting farther away every minute.” 

“ Pshaw! I know something better than that. 
You just watch met ” 

Carroll, after looking about in the dusk, had 
begun rapidly to divest himself of his clothing. 

“ Going to swim ashore? ” 

“Not much! Do you see that yacht anchored 
just astern of us? ” 

Sumner strained his eyes in the direction in- 
dicated. 

“ Looks like a small boat had run afoul of her 
bow,” he replied presently. 

“ That’s just what’s happened,” declared Car- 
roll, as he stood on the “ Spitfire’s ” overhang and 
prepared to plunge in. “I think when we cut her 
loose that fellow’s boat drifted over and caught 
on that sloop’s bobstay.” And he jumped into 
the water. 

Did you ever go swimming after dark down on 
the coast of Maine, when the temperature of the 
ocean is about fifty, and the grateful heat of the 
stm is very noticeable for its absence? If so, you 


36 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


know what Carroll was up against ; but he wasted 
no time, and as it wasn’t more than a hundred 
feet to the other yacht, his strong side-stroke 
quickly took him across. He pulled himself up 
into the rowboat — which, as he had surmised, 
had caught by an oarlock on the yacht’s bobstay 
— and rowed hurriedly back to the “ Spitfire.” 

Meanwhile Sumner looked the yacht over as 
well as he could in the dark. The lantern, which 
thus far had remained unlighted, had gone with 
their boat; but he felt of the companion fasten- 
ings, and found to his great astonishment that 
the doors had not been forced — no staples had 
been drawn, nothing broken. The Yale padlock 
hung there unlocked. Scratching a match, he 
stooped and entered the cabin. Everything 
seemed to be all right, contrary to his expecta- 
tions. There were no signs of rummaging. 
Greatly wondering, Sumner pulled a towel for 
Carroll from a locker, and emerged into the 
standing-room just as the rowboat bumped 
alongside. 

“ Hand me my clothes, quicker than light- 
ning, and hop in here and row,” called Carroll. 
“ That fellow isn’t far off, I can hear him working 
away yet.” 

Sumner locked the cabin, clambered into the 
boat, and took the oars, and after a hasty rub 
down, Carroll donned his clothing. The boat was 
a small dory, built for seaworthiness rather than 


THE INTRUDER 


37 


speed, but she began to walk along when Sumner 
got down to work, and was soon rapidly over- 
hauling the other boat. 

“ Harder on your right oar. Sum; I can see 
him now,” called Carroll, after a few minutes. 
“ He’s working inshore as fast as he can go, and 
I’ll bet he knows we are after him! ” 

When the race began, fully an eighth of a mile 
had intervened between the tender and the dory. 
The fugitive laid his course straight down the 
harbor, and evidently did not intend to land on 
the Cape. But when Sumner had cut in half the 
separating distance, the sculler discovered his 
pursuers, turned the boat abruptly to the right, 
and started for the South Stroudport shore. 

” Let her go. Sum,” admonished Carroll, who 
had finished putting on his clothes and stood up 
for a better view. “ He’s going to run in at the 
wharf just beyond the ferry slip. Guess his arm 
is getting better, for he’s sculling to beat time.” 

Sumner, too, was digging in for all he was 
worth, and the dory was fairly smoking through 
the water. 

“We’ll catch him! We’ll catch him!” cried 
Carroll exultantly. “ We’re just eating him 
right up.” 

But at that instant, when success seemed cer- 
tain, the old “ Governor Robie’s ” whistle tooted, 
her paddle-wheels began to revolve, and the ferry- 
boat started out of her South Stroudport slip, 


38 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


bearing down directly on the narrow strip of 
water between the dory and the tender. Carroll 
uttered a snort of vexation and Sumner stopped 
rowing. 

“ Don’t it beat the Dutch? ” ejaculated Car- 
roll. “ What luck we have to-night! ” 

“ Let’s pull in at this side of the ferry slip and 
run up and stop the fellow at the head of the 
other wharf,” Sumner suggested. 

“ No, that won’t do,” declared his chum, “ for 
when he finds we’ve gone ashore, he’ll take to 
his boat again.” 

It didn’t take the “ Governor Robie ” long to 
pass, but it seemed an age to the two waiting im- 
patiently in the dory, and the interruption gave 
the man in the tender just the chance he wanted. 
For when the ferry-boat was out of the way and 
Sumner was pulling the dory through her turbu- 
lent wake, Carroll saw the rowboat shoot in along- 
side a flight of steps at the next wharf, where with- 
out stopping for anything its occupant jumped 
out, ascended the steps, and hurried up the wharf. 
A few moments later Sumner and Carroll landed 
in the same place, paused an instant to secure 
both boats, and then dashed up the steps. There 
were no buildings on this wharf, but neither was 
there any artificial illumination. The shoreward 
end of the wharf abutted upon a street, and there 
hung an electric light. As the boys paused a mo- 
ment at the top of the steps to reconnoitre, they 


THE INTRUDER 


39 


saw the fugitive run beneath the light, enter the 
gate of a private residence, and disappear in the 
dusk of the yard. 

“ Come on, Cal,” cried Sumner, starting forward 
on the run. “ He's gone into Captain Bucklin’s 
place! ” 

And they ran up the wharf on a chase that was 
not soon to be forgotten. 


CHAPTER III 


A CHASE IN THE DARK 

The Bucklin place was an acre or more in 
extent and fronted right on the harbor — in fact, 
between it and the shore there was only a street. 
The Captain had taken the ferry-boat directly 
home, told his wife all the news of his trip to 
Philadelphia, and by the time the boys were run- 
ning up the wharf in pursuit of the thief, was abed 
and slumbering peacefully, quite unconscious 
that his innocent suggestion that they search the 
“ Spitfire ” had been the means of involving his 
friends in a series of exciting adventures. 

The Captain’s residence stood about midway of 
the lot. On the right were a lawn and some fruit 
trees, with gravel paths winding through to a 
grape arbor at the back; while at the left was 
more lawn, back of it a stable, and behind that a 
garden where the Captain practised fancy gar- 
dening. 

As soon as the boys saw the man disappear in 
the Bucklin yard they were running in pursuit. 
Up the wharf, across the street, and in at the 
gate they dashed. 


40 


A CHASE IN THE DARK 


41 


“ This way — I saw him go to the left,” said 
Carroll, whose long legs easily placed him in the 
lead. He rounded the comer of the house, fol- 
lowed by Sumner puffing hard, for he had not 
recovered his breath since his energetic rowing. 

Sumner knew every foot of the Bucklin place, 
but his companion, although he was a very good 
friend of the Captain, was less familiar with his 
grounds. And so, before Sumner could utter a 
word of warning, Carroll left the path intending to 
investigate a noise in the rear of the stable; and 
the next instant he tripped and fell sprawling over 
a line of ornamental iron wickets. 

“ Great jumping crickets! ” he growled, sit- 
ting up and rubbing his bruised shins. ” I got 
mine that time, all right! ” 

Just then out back of the stable a series of out- 
landish cracklings and crashes broke the stillness. 
“ Smash! Crash! Crackle! Crackle! ” 

“ Someone else got his, too, I guess,” Carroll 
muttered, rising painfully to his feet and then sit- 
ting down again to resume his rubbing. “ What 
on earth was that racket? ” 

“I’ll bet that fellow is smashing through the 
glass covers of the Captain’s cold-frames, where 
he starts his early vegetables,” exclaimed Sumner, 
who didn’t feel courageous enough to continue 
his search in the dark yard alone, and stopped for 
his companion to recover himself. 

“ Starting early vegetables in cold-frames this 


42 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


time of year,” sniffed Carroll, still rubbing his 
shins. “ You’re crazy! The Captain don’t leave 
his glass covers on all summer for the kids to 
break. I’ll bet.” 

“ Sure he leaves ’em on,” Sumner insisted. 
“ He’s an old crank on — on — what do you call 
it ? — intensive cultivation. He makes cucumbers 
and squashes and rhubarb and tomatoes grow 
about ten times as big as they ought to, you 
know — I mean he tries to. Anyhow, vegetables 
in July are early for fall and in September they’d 
be early for winter. Quit rubbing your shins, you 
baby, and come on. That fellow will be gone if 
we don’t hustle, and I’ve got my wind now.” 

Sure of his whereabouts Sumner ran down the 
yard closely followed by Carroll, whose fall had 
not really injured him. The crashing noises had 
stopped, but out in the darkness of the garden 
somebody was filling the air with angry remarks. 

“ Here! This way, quick! ” said Sumner, 
hurrying through a narrow space between the 
house and the stable, with Carroll a close second. 
Then they turned an abrupt comer and, before 
it was possible to pull up, dashed helter-skelter 
into a revolving clothes-reel filled with damp 
sheets and many other items of the family wash. 
In less time than it takes to relate it they found 
themselves literally swathed in a mass of damp 
clothes which clung more and more closely to 
them as they struggled with it in the darkness. 


A CHASE IN THE DARK 


43 


Then the reel-post, which had seen several years’ 
duty and had decayed at the surface of the ground, 
broke short off with a loud snap, and boys, reel, 
and washing went precipitately to the ground — 
a turbulent, struggling ruin. 

Up to this moment the Bucklin residence had 
been dark and quiet. But after years of seafaring 
it was second nature for the Captain to sleep with 
an ear and an eye open. A bright light now ap- 
peared at an upstairs window, and a head pro- 
truded into the outer air — the head of Captain 
Josiah. 

“ It’s clothes-line thieves, by mighty! ” he 
loudly declared, replying to questions uttered in 
a feminine tone at his back. “ But they haven’t 
gone far with the washing yet. Quick, gimme my 
britches, wife, and I’ll go out and give them 
scalawags Jesse! What’s that you said? Serves 
you right for letting the washwoman come so 
late in the day? Bosh, my dear! We’ll do our 
washing at midnight if it suits us! ” 

Before Carroll and Sumner had fairly cleared 
themselves from the tangle of wet sheets and 
what seemed like hundreds of feet of clothes-line 
the Captain came on the scene, and he was in a 
state of high indignation. He had added trousers 
and a pair of carpet slippers to his usual sleeping 
attire, lighted a lantern and seized a revolver. 
Thus clad and armed he stole around the comer 
and abruptly confronted the boys. 


44 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“ Now, by thunder, I’ve got you! ” he growled, 
with grim satisfaction, “ and here you’ll stay till 
we telephone the police. Right about face and 
head for the house, you young imps! ” he con- 
tinued, flourishing the revolver. “ And if you 
try to get away you’ll wish you hadn’t! It’s a 
living shame that people can’t leave a washing 
in their own yard over night — why — what — 
who? ” He held the lantern up to the boys’ 
faces, and paused in amazement. 

“ Bless my soul! Sumner Parker, is that 
you? ” 

“Yes, it’s me, very much so. Captain Bucklin,” 
replied Sumner, meekly, “ and this is Carroll 
Morse.” 

“Well, well — I’m always glad to see my 
friends, boys, but isn’t it just a little mite ir- 
regular? How in the world did you come here, 
anyhow? ” 

“We certainly didn’t come to steal the wash- 
ing,” Carroll replied, “ and we’ll pay for all the 
damage.” 

The boys hastily explained the situation, while 
the Captain listened in amazement. 

“ Well, I’m sorry,” he finally said ; “ but it looks 
as if I’d landed you in hot water with my advice.” 

“I’m afraid he’s broken your cold frames all 
to pieces, too,” ventured Sumner. “We just 
heard a fearful smash! ” 

“ Cold-frames? ” queried the Captain, starting 


A CHASE IN THE DARK 


45 


suddenly toward the rear of the stable. ‘ ‘ Smashed 
my cold-frames, has he? I’ll have his hide! ” 
Cold-frame windows were a tender subject with 
the Captain, for his had been broken before. It 
was only a step to the scene of destruction. A 
low hedge separated the forcing beds from the 
rest of the garden. In the darkness the fugitive 
had leaped the hedge and landed squarely in the 
middle of one of the glass covers. This had made 
the first loud crash, and the other noises had 
resulted from his attempts to extricate himself. 

“ The blank fool! ” muttered Captain Bucklin 
as he viewed the havoc in the lantern light, and 
struggled with his emotions. “ He must have cut 
his shins good and plenty. And he’s still got the 
cipher, has he? ” 

“ Yes, sir,” Sumner replied. 

“ Well, then, you just hump yourselves after 
him! Here’s his tracks.” The Captain examined 
the ground where footprints pointing toward the 
back fence showed in the soft dirt. 

“ He’s gone through to the next street between 
the houses there. You catch him and I’ll give 
you ten dollars, by thunder! and I’ll telephone 
the police headquarters to send an officer out to 
reinforce you.” 

He would have said more, but Carrojl and Sum- 
ner, without further talk, left him to retrace his 
steps to the house and telephone the police. 
Briskly they straddled the Captain’s vegetable 


46 AN ISLAND SECRET 

beds, and climbed over the fence into an adjoining 
garden. 

“ Better hurry here, and don’t wake anybody 
up,” whispered Sumner in a mysterious tone, as 
they picked their way through this cultivated 
plot, planning to pass through the yard of the 
house to which the garden belonged and thus 
reach the next street. 

“ I’d better hurry? Well, what’s struck you? ” 
demanded Carroll. “ And what am I doing about 
now? ” 

“ Oh, never mind. Just hustle, and don’t 
wake up the Chadwicks — they live here, you 
know,” was the odd reply. 

There was no time to discuss the reasons for 
Sumner’s peculiar request. Several minutes had 
been wasted through their mishaps on the Buck- 
lin premises ; and although the man had probably 
been delayed by troubles of his own, still the 
chances of overhauling him seemed to be getting 
momentarily slimmer. They were stealing for- 
ward as rapidly as possible, keeping a keen lookout, 
when suddenly a figure emerged from the doorway 
of a shed just ahead. Carroll, in the lead, paused, 
and abruptly stopped Sumner as he came along. 

“ I saw somebody come out of that shed, and 
he’s got a bike,” said he in a whisper. 

“ I can see something moving, too,” Sumner 
rejoined. “ Harry Chadwick’s got a wheel. 
Maybe it’s him; but if it’s his mother, I’d rather 


A CHASE IN THE DARK 47 

go around some other way,” he added, in a tone of 
hesitancy. 

“ Probably it’s Harry’s great grandmother,” 
snorted Carroll. “ Come on and find out.” 

Forward again they went. The Chadwick 
residence fronted on Cape Avenue, and before it 
swung an electric light. As the boys rounded the 
rear of the house, they saw the fellow with the 
bicycle silhouetted against the street illumination. 
He trundled the machine swiftly to the curb, and 
paused in the full glare of the light to mount. No 
second glance was needed to tell Sumner and Car- 
roll that he was the man of their search. 

“ Hasn’t he got the nerve! ” gasped Sumner. 
“ He’s pinched Harry Chadwick’s wheel! ” 

Up to this moment the object of their chase 
seemed unaware that his pursuers were again on 
his trail ; but now the boys’ shoes made so much 
racket on the Chadwicks’ back walk that he 
looked quickly around. 

“ Hold up there! ” called Carroll. “ Stop, I 
say! ” 

The fellow turned a bearded face toward them. 

“ Oh, it’s you again, is it? ” he remarked, with- 
out the least trace of excitement. Then he jumped 
into the saddle and started. 

Carroll made a grand dash and a swift grab, 
but in vain. The wheelman easily distanced him, 
and went pedalling up the avenue toward the 
outer Cape. The boys did not pause a moment, 


48 AN ISLAND SECRET 

but went running along the middle of the street 
after him. 

Cape Eastern has a picturesque coast line, in 
the main rocky and precipitous, with here and 
there a small sandy beach. Nearly the entire 
shore is bordered with cottages, many of them 
summer residences, and Cape Avenue, where the 
boys now were, was the main thoroughfare on 
which ran the electric car-line linking the outer 
coast with South Stroudport and the city. 

It was now nearly eleven o’clock. Most of the 
houses were dark and there were no pedestrians 
in sight. A few doors ahead several young people 
were holding a jolly conversation on the veranda. 
At the curb stood an automobile, its bright head- 
lights throwing a gleam up the street. Now a 
guitar was strummed melodiously, and two male 
voices began to sing, with youthful vehemence: 


“ Good-bye, my lady love, 

You are my turtle dove. 

You are the idol and darling of my heart — ” 


“ Stop him! ” shouted Carroll, hoping to attract 
the attention of the people on the veranda. “ Stop 
that man on the bicycle! ” Aiid as they ran both 
repeated the cry several times. 

It had the desired effect. The sudden shouting 
in the quiet night was like a thunder-clap from a 
clear sky. Two active young men and a bull 


A CHASE IN THE DARK 


49 


terrier ran out to the sidewalk at the first cry. 
At the first repetition they were in the middle of 
the street, and the third call found them reaching 
out to catch the bicyclist, who quickened his pace. 
In spite of their best efforts he dodged the clutches 
of the young fellows, but the dog had better luck. 
He ran, growling, straight at the wheelman, and 
made a leap for him. His jaws closed on a trouser 
leg ; there was a bumping and thumping and the 
rider was nearly unseated. Something had to give 
way, and as the dog wouldn’t, it had to be the 
trousers. There was a sound of rending cloth, 
and then back came the dog shaking a rag in his 
teeth, while the bicyclist regained his balance and 
rode hurriedly away. 

“ It’s no use running any further,” panted Sum- 
ner, coming to an abrupt stop as he realized the 
hopelessness of a pursuit on foot. 

“ Well, I’m hanged if it isn’t Cal Morse and Sum 
Parker,” cried the taller of the two youths who had 
ineffectually tried to head off the wheelman. 

“ Halloo, Rad Conway,” was Carroll’s retort, 
“ and is that you, Alf Richardson? ” to the other, 
who was swinging a guitar in one hand. 

“ That’s just who it is,” was the ready response. 
“ What’s the matter with you fellows? ” 

“Yes, do you really want to catch that man? ” 
demanded Rad Conway. 

“ You bet we do,” cried Sumner. “ He’s 
stolen something of ours, bu’sted Captain Buck- 


50 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


lin’s cold frames, and swiped Harry Chadwick’s 
wheel, besides.” 

“Then hop into my buzz- wagon quicker ’n scat,” 
ordered Rad, as he ran to the automobile and be- 
gan to crank up. 

Carroll and Sumner needed no second invitation. 
They hustled into the big tonneau of the touring 
car, Alf Richardson deposited the guitar on the 
veranda and jumped up in front, and Rad, having 
started the motor, took the driver’s seat. 

“ Oh, girls,” he called to the rest of the veranda 
party who had come down to the sidewalk during 
the episode of the wheelman’s passing, “ won’t you 
please telephone the police that Harry Chadwick’s 
wheel has been stolen and the thief is riding out 
Cape Avenue on it — and — and Alf and I’ll be 
back in a few minutes and say good-night. Hang 
on to your dog. Don’t let him chase — ” 

Rad’s remarks were cut short by the sudden 
starting of the car. He threw in the high gear and 
the machine leaped forward into the vivid path- 
way made by the headlights. Looking ahead 
the boys saw the bicyclist pass beneath an electric 
light. He must have heard the chug of the motor- 
car, for just then he turned and looked back. 
Catching sight of the lights coming up rapidly 
behind he gave a spurt, turned abruptly to the 
right, and rode into a side street. 

“ Up Burbank Street! ” cried Alf, excitedly 
pointing. “ See him. Rad? ” 


A CHASE IN THE DARK 


51 


Rad grunted. 

“ Well be hunting for a needle in a haystack if 
he loses himself in the cross streets between the 
Avenue and Ridge Street,” he grumbled. “ Hang 
hard! ” And the automobile slid swiftly around 
the comer into Burbank Street. 

We won’t attempt to give the details of that 
lively race. When in the mood Rad Conway was 
as hard a driver as one often finds. With the 
abandon of an excitement-loving disposition he 
gave himself energetically to the pursuit. Up 
Burbank Street, around into Cross Street, twisting 
swiftly from this short street to that one — always 
gaining on the wheelman, yet often losing sight of 
him in the darkness — with Alf shouting en- 
couragement and Carroll and Sumner fairly stand- 
ing up in excitement. Rad drove his motor-car. 
Finally they shot abruptly around a corner and 
found themselves on Ridge Street, a thoroughfare 
that ran along the high backbone of Cape Eastern, 
and joined Cape Avenue a short distance farther 
out. Here the electric lights were few and far 
between, but such as they were they showed the 
wheelman a little ways ahead, with his head down 
over the handlebars, riding for dear life. 

What a fool he is to stick to the road! ” cried 
Alf. “ Hit her up another notch. Rad! I see his 
finish! ” 

Rad shoved over the speed controller, and the 
automobile leaped ahead. 


52 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“ And so ut goes, so ut goes, rain an’ shine, hot 
an’ cold,” ruminated Policeman Dan Casey as he 
sauntered up and opened the police telephone 
call-box at the junction of Cape Avenue and 
Ridge Street, a mile and a half out from the ferry, 
at eleven o’clock on that July night which was 
furnishing so much excitement for Carroll Morse 
and Sumner Parker. “ Night in an’ night out, 
awearin’ out av me shoe-lither for me little three 
per, and niver annythin’ doin’ — no ixcitement — 
no ructions to warm me blood.” 

“ This is Casey,” he said, putting his lips to the 
transmitter. “ Casey, at box nine. Everythin’s 
all right; nothin’s doin’ wid me. What’s that? 
A felly bu’stin’ windies at Cap’n Bucklin’s? Sure, 
I’ll go an’ look after thim at wanst. What’s that? 
Did you say wait a minute? They’s a thief on a 
stolen bike cornin’ out Cape Avenoo wid a hole 
tore in his lift pant lig, is that ut? An’ otty- 
mobble is chasin’ ’im, is ut? Thry to stop ’im? 
Thot I will, sergeant. Is thot all? You don’t 
belave he’s armed? No? All roight, sor. I’ll 
nail ’im.” 

He shut the call-box door with an energetic 
snap, and gave his belt a hitch. Then with a firm 
grip on his night stick he stepped out into the mid- 
dle of the highway at the point where the two 
streets joined at an angle of forty-five degrees. 
Things were really coming his way now, and as 
the policeman looked and listened intently for 


A CHASE IN THE DARK 


53 


the bicycle thief and his pursuers his chest 
swelled perceptibly at the thought that this was 
his opportunity to show his mettle. Somewhere 
in the distance he could hear the rapid exhaust 
of a motor, but the sinuous curves of Cape Avenue 
as it skirted the bay shore prevented his seeing 
farther than the next light at the comer of the 
first side street. 

He stood directly beneath an electric arc. Back 
from the road to his left stood an old white church, 
while on his right, separated from the highway by 
an evergreen hedge, was the summer residence of 
John Jacob Robertson. Down back of this he 
could have told you there was a small sandy beach 
bordering on a cove which could be reached in 
a roundabout way by a lane, or more directly by 
crossing the Robertson grotmds ; and from where 
he stood. Officer Casey — had he looked — could 
have caught the red flash of the revolving light on 
Spring Ledge. But his eyes and thoughts were 
elsewhere. His forehead was creased in a frown. 
The chug-chug was coming nearer, but not along 
Cape Avenue. It sounded out on Ridge Street. 

“ It’s wrong entirely,” muttered Casey, un- 
easily. “ That’s not acoordin’ to me advices.” 

Then suddenly, while he watched and wondered, 
out from the dusk of Ridge Street, bending low 
over the handles and pedalling like a streak, came 
the wheelman. The street was far from being mac- 
adamized, and both wheel and rider swayed and 


54 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


jumped as they came swiftly toward the police- 
man. Not a hundred yards behind with its head- 
lamps glowing like enormous eyes was Rad 
Conway’s automobile, and it was certainly knock- 
ing the speed law to smithereens. 

“ Stop! ” shouted Casey, stepping forward and 
brandishing his stick. “ In the name of the law, 
stop! ” 

With his head down and the air whistling past 
his ears, the cyclist neither saw nor heard the 
policeman till he was right upon him. He could 
not stop, so he tried to dodge. Casey also dodged, 
but in the same direction. Instantly a glancing 
blow laid the representative of the law flat on his 
back in the road, and the wheelman, losing control 
of his steed, rode with a smash into the Robertson 
hedge. The bicycle stuck fast, but the rider, 
clutching desperately at the air, rose from the 
saddle in a graceful curve and landed sprawling in 
a bed of cannas ! 


CHAPTER IV 


MR. PIKE OF THE “ DORABELLE 

A MOMENT after the abrupt dismounting of the 
bicyclist, Rad Conway stopped his automobile 
beside the prostrate policeman, and the four 
boys leaped out. Carroll and Sumner helped the 
officer to his feet. 

“ Which way did the fellow go? ” demanded 
Carroll, eagerly. “ Did you see a man on a wheel 
go by here just now? ” 

“ If ye mane the cyclone that jist coom down the 
road and knocked me fiat, I think wan musht have 
passed,” replied the policeman, rather uncer- 
tainly, for he had not recovered from the shock 
he had received. 

I “ But where is he? Which way did he go? ” 
cried Rad as they stood beneath the electric light, 
looking about in all directions. 

“ Shure an’ I belave he flew roight over me hid 
and lit in the bushes beyant,” said Casey, as he 
tried to brush the dirt from his back. 

“ Say, fellows, here’s the bike stuck in the 
hedge,” announced Alf, who had crossed the road. 


56 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“ The thief must have taken a header over into 
the yard. Hurry up, officer, and arrest him be- 
fore he gets away from us! ” 

Thus adjured, Dan Casey bestirred himself to 
immediate action. Everyone had retired in the 
Robertson mansion, but John Jacob would surely 
have groaned if he had seen that quintette in- 
vade his premises — come scurrying in among the 
shrubbery and flower beds, and proceed to make 
as minute a search as was possible in the uncertain 
light. 

“ Here’s where he landed, in this canna bed,” 
declared Sumner, almost immediately, “ but he’s 
made himself good and scarce.” 

“ No, sir! He won’t linger ’round here,” said 
Carroll, “ and we’d better hurry along if we’re 
going to catch him.” 

“ Let me tell you something, fellows,” broke in 
Rad Conway. “ If that man knows the shore as 
well as he seems to know the streets, then he is 
aware there is a cove and a boat-house down back 
of this place where maybe he can steal a boat.” 

“ Roight ye are,” corroborated Officer Casey. 

“ And I suggest that we get down to the beach,” 
continued Rad. “ You four go right along, and 
I’ll run the auto into the driveway here, and join 
you in a jiffy.” 

Across the lawn, past the house, and down 
through the unlighted grounds at the back they 
hustled, with eyes and ears on the alert. Without 


MR. PIKE OF “ DORABELLE ” 57 


seeing or hearing anything suspicious they pres- 
ently arrived at the top of a masonry wall that 
overlooked the cove with its beach and boat-house 
dimly discernible below. 

“ The Robertsons have a flight of steps down 
to the beach somewhere along this wall,” declared 
Alf, who was familiar with the locality. “ This is 
where Rad keeps his motor boat, the ‘ Ginger.’ 
Double-cylinder, ten-horse thirty footer — a 
corker,” he went on. “ Ah, here are the steps,” 
after a minute’s search. Go easy, for they may 
be rickety.” But they all reached the beach and 
the boat-landing without mishap, and scarcely 
had they begun looking for their man when Rad 
arrived. 

The moon had set, but the sky had cleared, and 
the brilliant starlight made it fairly easy to dis- 
tinguish objects. There was no one beside them- 
selves on the landing, nor on the float moored to 
it, nor in the several boats fastened to the float. 

“ Listen! ” admonished Sumner. “ I’m sure I 
heard oars.” 

They paused, and the sound of oars being 
worked in frantic haste came from out in the 
cove. While they listened the noise grew fainter 
and fainter, for the boat was receding. 

“ Do you imagine that’s him? ” asked Sumner, 
in a tone of disgust. 

“ Of course it is,” replied Carroll, gloomily. 
“ Don’t he always get away? ” 


58 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“ He’s certainly a hustler,” Alf declared, “ for 
while we were poking around up in the Robertson 
yard he just sneaked down here, swiped a boat, 
and cleared out. He knew the ropes all right.” 

“ Or else he’s a mighty good guesser,” said 
Carroll. ” But this is the end of the trail for us, I 
think, and we might as well go back. We’re more 
than obliged to you for your trouble, you and Rad 
— why, where is Rad? ” 

“ Coming, with a lantern,” cried that person, 
from the direction of the boat-house. “ Cheer up, 
boys; it may not be as bad as it seems. Just help 
me take the covering off the ‘ Ginger,’ and we’ll 
give that fellow a run for his money that he won’t 
soon forget.” 

As Rad spoke he lighted the lantern and 
approached the motor-boat, which was moored at 
one side of the float. Her standing-room was 
covered with a tarpaulin, but busy fingers soon 
unfastened and rolled it up out of the way, for 
the boys all jumped eagerly at his suggestion of 
continuing the chase in the “ Ginger.” 

“ Light the search-light, Alf, will you? ” re- 
quested Rad. “You know how it works.” This 
was a compressed-gas affair located on the forward 
deck, where the helmsman could flash it in any 
direction he wished. 

Alf complied, while Rad busied himself about 
the engine. 

“ All aboard, fellows,” cried Rad, in a moment. 


MR. PIKE OF “DORABELLE*^ 


59 


“ You take the wheel, Alf, and the search-light. 
Aren’t you coming, Mr. Casey? ” he queried, in 
some surprise, as all but the policeman promptly 
scrambled aboard. 

“ I musht not lave me beat anny longer,” ex- 
plained the officer, apologetically. “ I have other 
juties to attind to.” 

“ Then you won’t join us? ” 

“ No; but I will, av coorse, raport the case to 
me supayrior, and I wish ye good luck, byes.” 

” All right,” rejoined Rad briefly. “ Suit your- 
self, of course. Let go the mooring lines, boys,” 
he commanded, and as Carroll and Sumner obeyed. 
Rad turned on the gasoline, cut in the spark and 
gave the fly-wheel a turn. The motor caught the 
explosion at once and the “ Ginger” went off with 
a rush, leaving the policeman behind on the float. 

” Keep your eyes peeled for trouble,” cried Rad, 
above the steady chug-chug-chug of the exhaust, 
“ for I’ll bet dollars to doughnuts that something 
interesting will happen mighty soon! ” 

When he had adjusted the engine to his satis- 
faction, Rad came forward to where the others 
were standing back of Alf, peering along the bright 
beam of the search-light as it was thrown here 
and there in an effort to locate the oarsman they 
had heard. 

“ Guess we won’t get back right away to say 
that good-night to the girls, Alf,” he laughed. 
“ Seen anything? ” 


60 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“Not yet; but when we get clear of these 
small craft something may show up.” 

The cove was a sheltered anchorage for a myriad 
of small sail-boats, and in and out among them 
Alf sent the “ Ginger ” in a series of curves, 
meanwhile playing the search-light liberally; 
but it was soon apparent that their man had not 
tried to hide on or near any of these. 

The mouth of the cove opened on the broad ship- 
channel, the main thoroughfare from the inner 
harbor to the deep sea outside, and across this 
half-mile expanse riding-lights twinkled on craft 
at anchor back of Jackson Island, and from cot- 
tages on many islands. 

“ He must have gone outside, fellows,” ex- 
claimed Sumner, presently. “ I don’t believe he 
is in the cove at all.” 

“ Then send her out into the channel,” urged 
Rad, “ and let’s see what we can find out 
there.” 

“ I don’t know exactly what this mad chase is 
all about,” he went on, “ but it seems pretty 
urgent, judging by the swath we’re cutting. Of 
course I know about the bike, but what did he 
steal from you? ” 

“Yes; what did he take?” asked Alf, with 
pardonable curiosity. 

“ ^ paper,” replied Carroll. 

“ Something valuable, of course,” rejoined Rad. 

“ Well, to be frank with you, we don’t know 


MR. PIKE OF “DORABELLE” 61 


whether it’s worth anything or not,” admitted 
Carroll, “ but when Sum and I got out to the 
yacht to-night and found this fellow appropriating 
something that wasn’t his, on general principles we 
sailed in to stop him.” 

“ But he gave you the slip,” said Rad in a 
jocular tone. 

“ It has every appearance of it.” 

“ And the worst of it is, he has managed to stay 
just about so far away ever since,” broke in 
Sumner. 

“ And he’s got the paper yet,” added Carroll in 
a sore tone, recalling the revolver that wasn’t 
loaded. 

“But, by George, there he goes! ” exclaimed 
Rad at that instant. “ Don’t you see him? There, 
’round the eastern point! ” he cried. “ Flash the 
light to the right! ” 

Instantly Alf swung the search-light around, 
and the four on the “ Ginger ” saw a rowboat, with 
a single occupant rowing hard, go scuttling out of 
sight around the high rocky point that marked the 
eastern or seaward side of the cove’s entrance. 
Then the steering wheel received a quick turn, 
the “ Ginger ” veered sharply to starboard, and 
dashed obliquely across the mouth of the cove in 
hot pursuit. 

“ What a cinch! ” cried Rad excitedly. “ He’s 
as good as nailed already! ” 

“ I’ll bet he’s heading for one of those vessels 


62 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


anchored in back of Jackson Island,” exclaimed 
Sumner. “ There’s always a lot of little lumber 
schooners or fishermen or something else lying 
there waiting for a fair wind.” 

“ But he’ll never make it in the world,” replied 
Alf, gleefully. “ Don’t she just smoke through it, 
though! Here we go past the point! Now we’ll 
be able to see the fellow again — ” 

“ Chug! Chug! Chug! ” puffed the motor. 
The “ Ginger ” was doing her very best. Rapidly 
she was cutting down the distance that intervened 
between her and the rowboat, which was again in 
sight. And then, utterly without warning, she ran 
upon a flat ledge that extended out under water 
from the point, and, with a rushing up-shoot and 
shock that threw the boys about in ridiculous 
confusion, stopped short. Though the propeller 
still churned industriously the motor-boat re- 
fused to budge a hair. 

“ Well, I’ll be blistered! I thought we were in 
deep water! ” gasped Alf, greatly chagrined, as 
the quartette picked themselves up. 

“ ’Tisn’t your fault at all,” blurted out Rad, as 
he ran aft and shut off the engine. “ I knew this 
ledge was here, but in the excitement I forgot it 
and let you run plunk on it.” 

“ Lordy, but that must have ripped her keel 
right off!” was Sumner’s exclamation. 

“ Oh, no, I don’t believe the ‘ Ginger ’ is 
damaged,” said Rad. “ Besides her skeg, she’s 


MR. PIKE OF “DORABELLE” 


63 


got a heavy brass shoe running the whole length of 
her keel, and she slid out on it just as if she was 
on a skate runner. But what gets me, is how we’ll 
get loose.” 

“ Are we stuck too hard to pull her off by re- 
versing the engine? ” asked Carroll, looking over 
the side. 

“ She draws two feet and a half aft, and there is 
likely not more than two feet of water on the ledge 
now, with the tide dropping every minute; still 
you never can tell what you can do till you try,” 
and Rad started the propeller on the reverse at 
top speed. The only perceptible effect, however, 
was the strong vibration that ran through the 
hull. Then for several minutes they pushed and 
shoved over the side with the emergency oars at 
the sea-covered ledge ; but to no purpose. Every 
moment the rowboat was getting farther away — 
every moment the chances of catching its occupant 
grew poorer; but the “Ginger” simply stuck 
right there with fearful stubbornness. 

“ Well, boys,” said Carroll at length, in great 
disgust, “I’ve been in swimming once to-night, and 
if it’s up to me, I can get out and push now.” 

“ I’ve got it, fellows! ” broke in Rad. “ Rock 
her — come aft and rock her hard 1 Perhaps we 
can shake her off ! ” 

Suiting the action to the word, all four went 
aft, and swaying their bodies in unison, quickly 
had the “ Ginger ” rocking. The propeller was 


64 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


still churning on the reverse motion, and, as a 
result, soon there came a slight grating and sliding 
under the keel. 

“ Hurrah, boys, she’s starting! ” said Alf. 
“ Keep her rocking! ” 

And surely enough the stranded “ Ginger,” 
starting slowly at first, backed with momentarily 
increasing speed off the ledge into deep water, and 
everyone heaved a sigh of intense relief. 

“Now get busy at the wheel again, and let’s get 
after that fellow,” exclaimed her owner. 

Over went the reversing bar, and the motor-boat 
resumed the interrupted chase. Out across the 
deserted ship-channel she tore, bent on making 
up lost time. Far across the stretch of water 
where the search-light could scarcely make itself 
shown the rowboat was faintly visible, rapidly 
approaching the anchorage ground. 

The “ Ginger,” however, was easily reeling 
off twelve miles an hour, and it did not take her 
long to cut a foaming wake across the channel. 
Alf kept the search-light busy, and as they shot 
past the nearest schooner the boys caught a 
glimpse of the rowboat dodging under the stem 
of a fishing steamer a hundred yards farther on. 

“ There he is! ” cried Sumner dancing with ex- 
citement. “ See! Just around that po’gy boat! ” 

“ I saw him,” replied Alf; and a moment later 
the motor-boat also rounded the steamer’s stem 
in hot pursuit. 





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MR. PIKE OF “DORABELLE” 65 


“ ‘ Dorabelle of Rockland,’ ” read Carroll as 
Alf flashed the search-light on her name. Then the 
light, gleaming along the steamer’s port side, re- 
vealed the rowboat lying there empty, and her 
late occupant climbing up a rope to the rail. Alf 
turned the light full upon him. It was their man ; 
there was no doubt about it. 

“ Hold on, there! ” called Sumner as the “ Gin- 
ger ” ran alongside and stopped. “We want you 1 ” 

But the fellow climbed hurriedly over the rail, 
and when Alf made a grab for the rope it was 
pulled up out of sight. 

“ Halloo, on board there! ” Sumner called 
loudly. There was no reply, however, though 
they could hear footsteps on the deck, and steam 
hissed intermittently from a safety-valve. 

“ Halloo, there! Wake up! ” Still no re- 
sponse. 

Then followed a loud and energetic chorus of 
calls from the boys, and presently a man came to 
the rail and looked down. 

“ What’s the matter? ” he inquired, gruffly. 

Alf Richardson twisted the search-light around 
and tilted it upward until its full rays fell on the 
speaker. It showed him to be tall and sparely 
built; a slouch hat was pulled down over a thin 
hatchet face; he was one of those long, gaunt, 
down-east Yankees, without a superfluous ounce 
of fat upon him, rugged and “ tough as a boiled 
owl.” 


66 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“ Say, turn that thing off, won’t you, please? ” 
he requested, for the strong light made him blink. 

Now what do you want? ” 

“ Are you the captain of this steamer? ” asked 
Carroll. 

“ I am. What of it? ” 

“We want the man that just went on 
board.” 

“ Who are you, anyhow? ” 

“ We’re from Stroudport,” replied Carroll. 

“ Have you got an officer with you? ” 

“ No, we haven’t,” admitted Carroll, “ but 
that fellow stole a paper from us and we want it 
back.” 

“ Oh, he has, has he? ” retorted the Captain. 
“ Mr. Pike! ” he bawled turning on his heel. 
“ Mr. Pike, come here! You’re wanted.” 

After a short delay another man joined the 
Captain in response to his call. He was a well- 
built fellow, wearing a full beard. The search- 
light showed that he was the man they had been 
chasing, but in spite of everything that had 
occurred, he gazed down on the occupants of 
the motor-boat with well-simulated curiosity. 

“ What are they after. Captain Field? ” he 
inquired quietly. 

“ Why, Mr. Pike,” replied the Captain, “ these 
fellows say you have stolen a paper from ’em, 
and the’ve simply got to have it back again. 
Is that so? ” 


MR. PIKE OF “DORABELLE” 67 


Who are they? ” inquired Mr. Pike, indiffer- 
ently. 

“You know us well enough,” cried Carroll 
Morse, impatiently. “ We’ve been chasing you 
for nearly two hours. You took a paper from the 
‘ Spitfire,’ and we want it. Come now, shell 
out! ” 

Mr. Pike uttered an exclamation of mild 
surprise. 

“As I live. Captain Field,” he averred, sol- 
emnly, “ I never saw these fellows before. I 
don’t know anything about the paper they men- 
tion, and I never heard of the ‘ Spitfire ’ in all 
my life.” 

“ That’s a lie! ” promptly responded Carroll. 
“ He’s got the paper on him this minute. Captain. 
We saw him have it! ” 

“ If ’t wasn’t sort of unhandy I’d just drop down 
there and punch your head for that remark, 
young fellow,” said Mr. Pike. 

“ Oh, try it on! Try it on! ” jeered Rad, in- 
stantly. “Comedown; we’ll make it interesting 
for you! ” 

“ Say, Captain,” called Sumner, “ if you don’t 
believe we’ve been chasing him for a long time 
then see if there isn’t a big piece of cloth gone from 
the bottom of his left pant leg, where he got 
nabbed by a dog ! You just take a look. Captain ! ” 

“ Sure, Captain Field, look at my pants all 
you want to,” acquiesced Mr. Pike, good-naturedly. 


68 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


The Captain stooped and apparently felt of 
the bottom of the mate’s trouser legs. 

“ His pants are all right,” he declared after 
a brief examination. 

“ Aw, he’s changed ’em, then,” said Sumner, in 
an aggrieved tone. 

” Just you see here,” the Captain retorted, 
somewhat brusquely, “ you fellows are barking up 
the wrong tree. It don’t do you any good to come 
’round here with your cock-and-bull story about 
a stolen paper. I know Mr. Pike and he says 
he didn’t take the paper, and that settles it so 
far as I’m concerned. If you ain’t satisfied, why, 
take it to the courts and try it out there ; I ain’t 
got any more time to listen to your talk. Our 
safety-valve’s been on the pop for ten minutes 
now, and we’ve got to get out of here.” 

To say the quartette in the “ Ginger ” were put 
out by Captain Field’s attitude is to state it very 
mildly. However, there seemed to be nothing 
they could do toward recovering the cipher unless 
they boarded the ” Dorabelle ” and tried to take 
it by force. Such a proceeding was sure to end 
in failure, as their common-sense plainly told 
them. But an idea popped into Carroll’s head, 
and he whispered a moment with the others, 
while the Captain and the mate stood silent at the 
rail. 

The rowboat in which Pike had come aboard, 
and which the boys supposed he had stolen from 


MR. PIKE OF “DORABELLE” 69 


the cove landing, was idly floating alongside, 
and Alf reached out the boathook and took pos- 
session of it, fastening the painter to a stem cleat 
of the motor boat. 

“ Leave that boat alone! ” exclaimed the 
Captain, when he saw what was going on. 

“ Tell your friend Mr. Pike that we will take 
pleasure in returning the rowboat he stole from 
the Robertson landing to-night,” retorted Carroll 
ironically. 

“ He didn’t steal it,” declared the skipper of 
the steamer. “ That’s my boat, and if you 
take it you’ll get yourselves into trouble.” He 
spoke as if he really believed what he was 
saying. 

“ Of course we would hate to hurt your feelings 
by calling you a liar, like Mr. Pike there,” an- 
swered Carroll quickly. “ But we happen to 
know where this boat came from, and you can 
take it from me that it’s going back! ” 

“ Look here. Pike, whose boat is that? ” anx- 
iously demanded the Captain. “ Ain’t that the 
boat that was got out this afternoon? ” 

“ It sure is. Captain Field,” the mate returned, 
in a soothing tone. “ And they haven’t any 
business to take it.” 

“ Then what dory was that you went out to 
the yacht in? ” demanded Carroll instantly. 

“ Why, that boat came from — ” began Pike, 
then he stopped, realizing he had been caught. 


70 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“ I don’t know what you’re talking about,** 
he lamely concluded. 

“ One thing is sure,” jeered Carroll. “ You 
may be a good mate for a po’gy boat, Pike, but 
you’re a mighty poor liar. Go ahead. Rad,” he 
continued, for Conway was already bending over 
the engine. “ It’s no use for us to hang around 
here.” 

But before the “ Ginger ” started the Captain 
broke out again. 

“ Say, are you going to steal that boat right 
under my nose? ” 

Rad paused in his operations, and Carroll re- 
plied : 

“ You’ve been so accommodating to us. Captain 
Field, that it may seem like rubbing it in to run 
off with a boat that one of your men has stolen 
from someone else; but that’s just what we’re 
going to do. And ‘ if you ain’t satisfied,’ ” he 
continued, with just a touch of malice in his voice, 
and the slightest possible imitation of the Cap- 
tain’s nasal twang, “ ‘ why, take it to the courts 
and try it out there. I ain’t got any more time 
to listen to your talk. Our safety valve’s been on 
the pop for ten minutes now, and we’ve got to 
get out of here.’ ” 

“ You’ll catch it for this,” cried Captain Field 
wrathfully. “ I’ll have the law on the whole of 
you, by thunderin’ mighty, and you’ll be sorry 
you was ever out here to-night.” 


MR. PIKE OF “ DORABELLE ” 71 


“ Oh, as for that, we’re sorry already,” readily 
agreed Carroll. “ But let me tell you one thing. 
Even if this was your boat, which we know very 
well it isn’t, I wouldn’t give it up to you until 
you made your lying mate there hand over the 
paper he stole. And if you want to have the law 
on us, just call on Carroll Morse, care of the 
Stroudport Yacht Club.” 

Then the “ Ginger ” went off at a lively clip, 
towing the rowboat, while the captain of the 
” Dorabelle ” shook his fist after them in im- 
potent rage and called the boys about all the 
bad names he could think of. 

“ It’s too darned bad, boys,” said Alf Richard- 
son to Carroll and Sumner, as the motor-boat 
puffed back toward the cove. “ Of course Rad 
and I haven’t any personal interest in this affair 
but we don’t like to see you get thrown down.” 

“ What else could you expect when one lied 
and the other backed him up? ” asked Sumner. 

“ Just one thing is getting on my nerves now,” 
broke in Carroll, who was apparently bearing up 
philosophically under the failure to get back the 
cipher. “And it’s this: whose boat are we 
towing behind, Robertson’s or the ‘ Dorabelle’s ’ ? ” 

“ What’s that? ” asked Rad coming forward 
from the engine, and Carroll repeated his re- 
mark. 

“ Dead easy to find out,” said Rad. “ The 
boat’s probably got her name on the stem. I 


72 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


know all of Robertson’s boats have, and if she 
came from the ‘ Dorabelle ’ she ought to have, 
too.” 

The engine was stopped and the rowboat was 
pulled up alongside. Rad scratched a match and 
leaned down over her stem. 

“ Geewhillikins ! ” he ejaculated, as his eyes 
made out a name there. “ Boys, she belongs 
to the ‘ Dorabelle’ ! ” 

“ Now I’d have been willing to swear that 
fellow was lying about it,” said Carroll, a good 
deal nonplussed. 

“No wonder the Captain was hot,” Alf re- 
marked, bursting into a laugh. “ Oh! but this is 
too good! ” 

“ How do you suppose Pike came to leave his 
boat in Robertson’s cove? ” asked Sumner, won- 
deringly. 

“ Where’d you see him first? ” inquired Rad, 
by way of answer. 

“ On Val Brandon’s ‘ Spitfire,’ anchored over 
opposite the yacht club,” said Cal, “ and he had 
a boat with him then.” 

“ I’ll bet I can explain the mystery,” Rad de- 
clared. “ He rowed over to the cove from the 
steamer ; went up to the avenue and took a trolley 
car down to the ferry; pinched a boat and went 
out to the yacht. That explains how he found 
a boat so quickly at Robertson’s when we chased 
him back to the cove.” 


MR. PIKE OF “ DORABELLE 


73 


“ I guess you’re dead right, Rad; but what 
are we going to do with this confounded boat? ” 
grumbled Carroll. “ I don’t feel much like taking 
it back and eating humble pie with that cap- 
tain.” 

During this brief colloquy the “ Ginger ” was 
drifting leisurely down the channel with the tide. 
There was no wind, and all was still about them. 
Suddenly the momentary silence following Car- 
roll’s declaration was broken by the dull boom of 
a distant explosion, followed by a hissing sound. 
While they listened, questioning its cause and 
source, a steamboat whistle began blowing a 
frenzied alarm. 

“Toot! Toot! Toot! Toot! Toot! T-o-o-o-t! 
T-o-o-o-o-o-t ! T-o-o-o-o-o-o-t ! ” 

Beginning with a fierce shriek, the sound rap- 
idly dwindled in volume, and finally died away 
in a low wail, as if the steam pressure were fast 
diminishing. 

“ It’s over the other side of Jackson Island,” 
said Sumner, breaking the strained silence on 
board the “ Ginger.” 

“ There is surely a steamer in trouble over 
there, boys,” Rad exclaimed. “ Shall we run 
over? All right, Alf ; then put her about. We’ll 
lay Captain Field on the shelf for the present, 
and find out what the matter is down the har- 
bor.” 

As he spoke he started the engine; and, with 


74 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


the “ Dorabelle’s boat trailing behind, the 
motor-boat went down channel at her best gait 
while her youthful occupants stared impatiently 
ahead. 


CHAPTER V 

THE “ BAY queen’s ” LAST TRIP 

The island steamer “ Bay Queen ” had touched 
at Peaked Island on her last trip for the night. 
Though it was eleven-thirty o’clock, the big 
dancing and amusement pavilion near the head 
of the wharf was just emptying its crowd of 
late-staying pleasure-seekers, and they were troop- 
ing down aboard the “ Bay Queen,” and her 
consort the steamer ” Casco,” which was tied up 
at the same landing. 

Forward on the “Bay Queen’s” upper deck 
a sturdy, pleasant-faced young man, clad in a gray 
suit and wearing a yachting cap, stood by the 
rail watching the throng move along under the 
electric lights. 

” Come up here, Val Brandon, and let me get 
a good squint at you,” cried out a jovial voice 
from the pilot-house. ” I haven’t seen you for 
an age, youngster.” 

The look of surprise on Val Brandon’s face at 
this unexpected sally changed to one of sincere 
pleasure as he turned and recognized the speaker. 

76 


76 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


He ran quickly up a short flight of steps, and 
grasped the hand of the “ Bay Queen’s ” captain. 

“ I never dreamed of finding you on this 
steamer. When did you quit the ‘ Storm King,’ 
Captain Roderick? ” 

“ Why, last year, soon after we chased all over 
the Maine coast for you young scalawags,” was 
the jolly rejoinder. “ How’s the life insurance 
business? ” 

“ First class,” Val replied. “ Everybody’s 
paying up regularly, and nobody’s dying off. 
But how did you come to be captain of the ‘ Bay 
Queen’ ? ” 

“ Just wait till we get under way and I’ll spin 
you the yarn,” and the former master of Captain 
Josiah Bucklin’ s tug “ Storm King ” stuck head 
and shoulders out of a window to watch the prog- 
ress of embarkation. 

“ Biggest part of the crowd’s going aboard the 
‘ Casco,’ ” he remarked presently, “ because we’ve 
got to make Cushman’s Island, while she has a 
straight run for Stroudport. I’m glad of it. 
We’re short handed to-night — my mate took 
sick and went ashore at Beeg Island, and here 
I am left to do all the steering as well as the boss- 
ing. I hate to have a crowd aboard with a short- 
handed crew — always keep thinking what if an 
accident should happen.” 

“ There goes the ‘ Casco,’ ” remarked Val, as 
the other steamer pulled out from the wharf and 


“BAY QUEEN’S” LAST TRIP 77 


headed toward the city. “ She’s loaded chock- 
a-block — just look at her!” 

“ Sure thing; and all we get is the Cushman 
Island folks and the city people that don’t enjoy 
being packed in like sardines. There are some, 
you know,” he added, slyly, “ that really don’t 
enjoy it!” 

The “ Bay Queen’s ” last passenger was now 
aboard and the gang plank hauled in. The Cap- 
tain gave a toot on the whistle and the lines were 
cast off. “ Ting ” went the engine-room gong; 
the propeller began revolving, and the steamer 
moved away from the landing, heading down the 
channel between Peaked and Jackson Islands. 

On the roof of the pilot-house was a powerful 
electric search-light, and this, under the control 
of the helmsman, now threw out its radiance, 
picking up in succession the buoys that marked 
the channel. Occasionally flashing to one side of 
the course, it threw a glare on a vessel at anchor, 
or some homeward-bound launch party, or a 
building on shore, making these objects stand 
out in ghostly brilliance against the black back- 
ground of night. 

“ Gk)t to amuse the passengers now and then, 
you know,” laughed Captain Roderick after he 
had thrown the light in a semicircle from port 
to starboard and back again. “ They’re always 
looking for some fancy-work, and you’ll find most 
of ’em on the upper deck now watching it. 


78 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“ I was sick of being away from home, Val,” 
said the Captain, at length. “ Do you know; 
the day we brought you fellows back from Tower 
Island to Stroudport was my fiftieth birthday — 
the day on which I had time and again declared 
I would settle down and stay at home. That was 
my last trip on the ‘ Storm King.’ Just took my 
little hoard out of the stocking and bought some 
stock in the Stroudport Steamboat Co., and here 
I am, the ‘ admiral of the fleet.’ ” 

“ Well, Admiral, it seems to me they handed 
you a lemon for a flag-ship,” said Val jokingly. 
“ The old ‘ Bay Queen ’ was built out of the re- 
mains of the ‘ Ark,’ wasn’t she? ” 

“ She’s so old she’s petrified in spots,” the 
Captain chuckled, “ but her hull is sound from 
garboard to top strake; and her engines wasn’t 
bought so fearfully long ago; but she’ll have to 
get a new boiler next season. Say, do you own 
the ‘ Spitfire ’ now? ” 

Val replied in the affirmative. 

“Well then, just listen to me. You want to 
trade her off and get a motor-boat. Those are 
the slick boys for cruising! You don’t care a 
continental whether it’s a head wind or a dead 
calm, you plug along just the same. If you’re 
bound alongshore this summer I know just the 
boat you ought to go in, too. Built last year, but 
in dandy shape; thirty-five feet over all, which 
means a lot more room than you get on a sail- 


“BAY QUEEN’S” LAST TRIP 79 


boat with a jib-boom included in the measure- 
ments. She’s got a roomy trunk-cabin, with 
sleeping-room for four, and an engine that’ll shove 
her fourteen miles an hour easy.” 

“ And chew up gasoline by the barrel, eh? 
Where is she, and what’s her name? ” queried Val, 
for he had been looking into the subject of motor- 
boats himself. 

“ Her name’s the ‘ Screamer,’ and she belongs to 
me,” replied Captain Roderick, with a significant 
smile that Val glimpsed by the glow from the 
binnacle light as his companion bent forward. 

“ Do you mean — ? ” began Val, curious to 
know what his friend had in mind. But the ques- 
tion was destined to remain unfinished. 

At that moment from below came the sudden 
shock and loud report of an explosion, immediately 
followed by the hiss of escaping steam. Almost 
instantly the air amidships on both sides of the 
“ Bay Queen ” was white with clouds of steam 
that belched forth from the engine-room. The 
feathery vapor mounted to the upper deck and 
trailed aft among the passengers there. Loud 
exclamations of alarm came from them even as 
Captain Roderick snatched open the engine-room 
speaking tube. Quick as was the Captain, the 
engineer below was quicker. His agitated voice 
came up the tube almost before the Captain had 
placed his ear to it. 

“ It’s something fierce down here! ” cried the 


80 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


engineer. “ I think she’s blown out a piece of 
her crown sheet, and the fire is scattered all over 
the place! ” 

“ Are you hurt? ” 

“ No.” 

“ Where’s your fireman? ” 

“ Up here with me; he’s all right.” 

“ And the steam? ” 

“ Dropped to eighty pounds already.” 

“ Start your pump and wet down the fire,” 
ordered the captain. 

“ I can’t reach the pump,” groaned the en- 
gineer. ** It’s right in the live steam.” 

“ Keep your nerve then! I’Ubedown!” And 
the tube snapped shut. 

“ My heavens, what a man that is for an emer- 
gency! ” the Captain muttered. “ Peaked Island 
landing a mile astern, and Cushman’s half a mile 
ahead ! 

“ Here, Val Brandon, take this wheel! ” and 
he gave his companion a shove toward it. “ Head 
her for Jackson Island — we’ll get there if we 
can.” 

He opened a locker and produced two revolvers. 

“ Put one of these in your pocket; there’s no 
telling what panic may strike the passengers. 
Thank God, the biggest crowd went on the 
‘ Casco.’ Show your grit, for to-night I’ve got to 
depend on you! ” 

Val brought the steamer around and headed 


“BAY QUEEN’S’’ LAST TRIP 81 


for Jackson Island. In the first few moments 
he stood there the steam pressure dropped so 
fast that the electric lights grew dim and slowly 
and more slowly throbbed the engines. 

“ There is no danger! ” He heard the loud 
reassuring voice of the Captain as he moved 
among the passengers. “ There is no danger! 
It’s only a slight explosion! Don’t be alarmed! 
We are perfectly safe! ” Then his voice was lost 
in the ever-present hiss of steam. 

Val at the wheel wondered if the steam would 
last till they made Jackson Island; wondered 
how the Captain would get his passengers to 
the city, and if — when suddenly Captain Rod- 
erick rushed in like a whirlwind, seized the whistle 
cord, and blew a succession of sharp, quick blasts. 

“ Thank heaven, there’s still steam enough! 
Keep it going,” he ordered, in a tense voice, 
“ just as long as the whistle will sound.” 

“Is it as bad as that? Won’t we make it? ” 
demanded Val, feeling rather than seeing the 
agitation in the Captain’s demeanor. 

Before the Captain could reply there was an 
outcry from the lower deck. 

“ Fire! Fire! Fire! The steamer’s on fire! ” 
cried someone with all the strength of his lungs. 

“ The fool! ” gritted the Captain. “ My boy, 
the stoke-hole is a regular hell, and the pump is 
damaged so we can’t start it.” 

“ How’s the steam? ” 


82 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“ Fallen to forty and the machinery’s going 
to stop in a minute. Tie the whistle open, put the 
wheel in the beckets, and follow me! ” And he 
strode out on deck. 

Captain Roderick was a man of grit and resource, 
who more than once had looked death in the face 
without flinching, but the present situation was 
one to take every ounce of stamina he possessed. 

Val did as directed, and ran after the captain. 
As he reached the deck the “ Bay Queen’s ” 
propeller stopped, the electric lights dimmed to 
red strings and went out, and the shriek of the 
whistle died to a low wail. Somewhere below decks 
sounded the crackling of flames as fire gained 
headway in the tinder-dry woodwork, and whiffs 
of smoke came to his nostrils. But the exigencies 
of the situation, instead of paralyzing his energies, 
roused him to action. All sense of personal dan- 
ger was lost in a strong desire to work for the 
safety of all. A glance around told him, however, 
that others had seen the plight of the steamer. 
Whistles were tooting not faraway, and lights were 
dancing over the water toward them. No doubt 
boats of all kinds would flock to the scene; but 
despite all these reassuring things, the explosion, 
the cry of fire, and the agonizing but necessary 
shrieks of the whistle, had set many of the pas- 
sengers in a panic. 

The condition of things on the upper deck was 
one to baffle description. Darkness reigned, and 


“BAY QUEEN’S” LAST TRIP 83 


in it women and men, too, were pushing hither 
and thither. Some were shrieking, some swear- 
ing, others praying. One woman, in strong 
hysterics, was uttering bloodcurdling wails. A 
few cool heads, blessed with presence of mind — 
that ability to exercise common sense while under 
the stress of great excitement — were trying to 
calm the frightened, but with little result. 

Val overtook the Captain just as that person 
made a loud announcement. 

“We are heading for Jackson Island near by! 
There are plenty of life-preservers for everybody 
right over your heads! I call for volunteers to 
launch the boats and fight the fire! ” 

“ Where do you want me? ” asked Val, seizing 
the Captain’s arm. 

“ Calm ’em down the best you can here, and 
then get some men to go up and help lower the 
boats. I’ll go below and fight fire! ” He disap- 
peared, and Val was left to face a chaotic and 
terrifying situation. 

“ I must get ’em to do something,” he muttered, 
clenching his fists; “ something to take their 
attention off the danger! ” 

“ Here, men! ” he called authoritatively, el- 
bowing his way into the thickest part of the 
crowd. “ Every man pull down life-preservers 
from the racks overhead, and fasten them on the 
women and children! ” 

Loudly repeating this order again and again. 


84 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


he made a circuit of the deck. He pulled down 
life-preservers and forced them into the hands 
of the men. 

‘ ‘ Here you ! Get busy ! ” he ordered. ‘ ‘ There’s 
boats coming from everywhere to take us off! 
Keep cool! Keep your grit! We aren’t hurt yet 
and won’t be! ” 

It was surprising how soon a semblance of 
order came out of the turmoil. Inaction, the 
hardest thing to endure in the face of crying 
danger, was followed by energetic work on the 
part of several volunteers. Leaving most of 
them working at the life-preservers, Val took 
half a dozen men and climbed to the roof of the 
upper deck where they found two deck-hands 
working desperately at the life-boats. 

As they worked in feverish haste to imcover 
the heavy boats and get them over the side, an- 
other crew under the direction of the Captain 
took service with the engineer and fireman and 
began passing buckets of water from the rail to 
the fire-room. But the fire-fighting did little 
good. The flames were seething about the stoke- 
hole and up into the engine-room. Oily floors 
and bulkheads kiln-dried by the heat of the 
boiler burned fiercely. Clouds of dense smoke 
poured from the doors and windows of the engine- 
room, making it almost impossible for the bucket 
brigade to work at all, while the noise of the fire 
as it worked upward and outward through the 


‘‘BAY QUEEN’S” LAST TRIP 85 


waist of the steamer cotdd be distinctly heard all 
over the boat. 

When she lost her headway the “Bay Queen’s ” 
anchor had been dropped, and now she swung idly 
in the ebbing tide. But the signals of distress 
were being noticed. A harbor steamer of another 
line was hurrying across from Little Hog Island, 
flashing its search-light as it came. From where 
Val was working strenuously at the boat-falls he 
could see, over the crest of Jackson Island, a 
number of red and green lights coming from 
Stroudport; and before the first life-boat had 
been lowered the “Toot — toot!” of a motor- 
boat sounded close at hand, a small search- 
light gleamed in the dark, and Rad Conway’s 
“ Ginger ” ran alongside to the rescue. 

“ On the launch there! ” shouted the Captain. 
“ Will you stand by these boats? ” 

“You bet we will! Let ’em come! ” answered 
four lusty throats as the motor-boat stopped under 
the port gangway, and brought her search-light 
to bear on it. 

Instantly a dozen men jammed forward to leap 
aboard her. Quick as a flash the Captain whipped 
out his revolver. 

“Women and children first!” he insisted. 
“ Women and children first! The first man that 
boards that boat gets shot! ” 

Grumbling but cowed the fellows slunk back. 
Then with many uncertain hitches the unused 


86 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


boats were lowered. Despite choking smoke and 
the crackling of flames close at hand the passengers 
crowded down the companion to the lower gang- 
way. 

Almost as quickly as it takes to tell it the “ Gin- 
ger ” herself, the boat she had been towing, and 
the four life-boats, were filled — the women and 
children getting the first chance. Dropping from 
the gangway to the motor-boat the passengers 
were thence passed along to the other boats. 
Then with the five heavily loaded boats strung 
out behind in tow, and loaded to the gunwales 
herself, the “ Ginger ” moved away to land her 
human freight at Jackson Island. 

Events now followed each other in rapid suc- 
cession. The “ Ginger ” had carried away more 
than a hundred passengers, but still over fifty 
remained. The most of them were crowded away 
aft. A few, and among them Val Brandon, cut 
off from the rest by the fire amidships, were as 
far up in the bow as they could get. For when 
Val and the other men who had worked without 
respite to rip the stiff tarpaulin covers from the 
life-boats, to swing the davits outboard, tug the 
heavy boats into launching position and then 
lower them, — when, I say, their work was done 
and they hustled down the ladder close by the 
pilot-house, they found the flames making such 
headway that it was foolhardy to try to reach 
the after-deck. 


“BAY QUEEN’S” LAST TRIP 87 


Then, of a sudden, while they anxiously awaited 
rescue, with a roar the fire burst its bounds and 
flamed aloft. It spit and crackled and licked 
up the painted surfaces. Mounting higher and 
higher, at last it laid its demon clutches on the 
pilot-house, till from that vantage a lurid pillar 
of fire streamed high and shone far over the 
waters of Stroudport Bay. 

But before this culmination which made life 
on the steamer unendurable, the steamer “ Cadet ” 
arrived. Bringing her broadside against the 
“ Bay Queen’s ” stem, she at once took off every- 
body on the after-decks. At the same time, 
Val and his companions forward saw an odd- 
looking steamer approach. She brought her bow 
up against that of the “ Bay Queen.” 

“ Git off there! ” called a drawling, nasal voice. 
“ Jump aboard here, before ye’re roasted 
alive! ” 

No one needed a second invitation. Those 
on the upper deck scrambled down by the deck 
braces. All of them were men, and in less than 
a minute they were aboard the “ Dorabelle of 
Rockland,” the odoriferous po’gy steamer. 

“ Best I can do is to land you at Cushman Isl- 
and,” declared Captain Field to the smoked and 
blistered refugees on his ill-smelling deck as the 
“ Dorabelle ” drew slowly away from the doomed 
“ Bay Queen.” 

Now the stress was over Val was decidedly 


88 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


tired. He was uninjured, but felt that one steam- 
boat fire would last him a lifetime. 

Wearily he sat down on the rail and waited. 
A lantern or two faintly lighted the deck of the 
fishing steamer, showing coils of rope, seine boats, 
and other paraphernalia of the calling strewed 
about in apparent confusion. It seemed an age 
before they bumped up against the wharf at 
Cushman Island. 

“All ashore, and never mind the thanks!’' 
called Captain Field. 

As Val started hastily to cross the deck, un- 
observed by anybody, he tripped on a coil of 
rope in the dark, struck his forehead violently 
against the gunwale of a seine boat, and fell 
stunned. There he lay in the deep shadow while 
the “ Dorabelle ” discharged her unexpected 
passengers, steamed away from the landing, and 
went down the ship channel out to sea. 


CHAPTER VI 


ON BOARD THE “ DORABELLE ” 

When, after many minutes, consciousness came 
slowly back to Val Brandon as he lay stunned in 
the shadow of a big seine-boat on the deck of the 
fishing steamer, his first sensation was a fierce 
throbbing pain in the head. Too dazed he was, 
in fact, to realize at first where he was or what 
had happened to him; but by degrees as he lay 
quiet his head cleared, the pain eased and memory 
returned. 

The pulsation of the machinery, the seething 
and splashing of water alongside, and especially 
the heaving of the hull, told him they were under- 
way, and probably outside of the harbor. 

As this thought took form in his mind he be- 
came aware that two persons were talking in low 
voices not far from him, and in the quiet he over- 
heard a good deal of what they said. 

‘‘ — And about a quarter of a mile in from the 
east shore is a tumble-down old farmhouse,” he 
overheard a drawling voice say, earnestly. “ Well, 
I guess ’twas built over a hundred years ago, per- 
89 


90 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


haps two hundred, for the woods have grown up 
close all around it. Nobody ever goes there — 
fact is, I don’t believe hardly anybody knows 
there’s such a house on the island; and I cal’late 
Heffler could land ’em in the cove, and put ’em 
up at this old place till we had time to finish the 
job.” 

“ That sounds plausible,” answered a younger 
and more decided voice; “but I don’t want to 
take the risk.” 

“ And we will just go about our business every 
day, as usual, and mebbe once a week or so we 
can take a load — ” The first voice was speaking 
as though the second had not interpolated a pro- 
test. 

“ Do you know what the chances really are? ” 
asked the younger voice, more sharply. “ Do 
you realize that if we are — ? ” 

“ Sh! Sh! Not so loud! ” cautioned the drawl- 
ing tones. “ I ain’t anxious to have our remarks 
overheard, not at present. Let’s go aft and talk 
this thing out to a finish.” 

The pair moved out of speaking distance, and 
Val arose slowly to a sitting posture. Even by this 
time he did not feel particularly energetic. Gin- 
gerly he felt of a rapidly increasing and extremely 
painful bump on his forehead. 

“ What a whopper! ” he muttered. “ Big as an 
egg!” And then he stood up. They were at sea, 
as he had suspected, and heading off shore in a 


ON THE “DORABELLE’’ 


91 


southeasterly direction. Painfully Val made his 
way to the starboard side, across a deck unlighted 
save by the stars, and there, perhaps a mile away, 
glowed the two beacons on Cape Eastern known 
as the “ Two Lights,” while farther astern shone 
the great light on the “ Head,” and beyond that 
the white flash on Ram Island. 

“ In all my wildest dreams I never expected 
this to happen to me,” he soliloquized, disgustedly. 
“ If I was going to be carried off why couldn’t it 
be on a dandy yacht, instead of one of the smelli- 
est, frowziest, rancidest boats that ever sailed? ” 

Never before had Val been on a menhaden 
steamer, but he had been told they had an odor 
all their own, and now he knew it. 

“ It smells like seventeen glue factories and 
a couple of phosphate works combined, and it’s 
a mighty good place to get away from. I’ll just 
hunt up the Captain and see where he’s heading 
for, and what prospect there is of my ever seeing 
home again.” 

Thus communing with himself he went forward, 
and climbed to the wheel-house. The “ Dora- 
belle ” was an average specimen of the porgy — 
just call it “ po’gy,” everyone else does — steamer, 
those craft that prowl about the Atlantic coast 
in summertime in search for the fish known as 
menhaden, or porgy, or moss-bunker, and, having 
captured them in their huge nets, or seines, steam 
away with the catch to some “ po’gy factory ” 


92 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


on shore where the oil — for which the fish are 
particularly noted — is extracted. 

The “ Dorabelle’s ” wheel-house was away for- 
ward, set on top of the galley and mess-room. 
Below decks was the forecastle for the crew, and 
aft of this was a stretch of open deck occupying 
the steamer’s waist, that afforded easy access 
to the fish tanks below decks, and gave room for 
the large seine boats and dories and other equip- 
ment. 

Aft of this open deck were the engine-room and 
the officers’ quarters. In fact the steamer “ sat 
on her own tail,” as the saying goes, so short was 
her shaft owing to the nearness of the engines 
to the propeller. 

The wheel-house door was open, and Val stepped 
quietly in. There was no light except that in the 
binnacle ; but between him and the open windows 
in front showed the figure of a man at the wheel. 
As he entered this person turned his head. 

“ Say, Bob,” he queried, “ what do you think 
of this lay the old man is going on now? I can’t 
make head nor tail of it; but he’s offered me 
double pay if I’ll take hold and ask no questions.” 

“ Guess you’ve made a slight mistake; I’m not 
the man that you’re looking for,” Val returned; 
“ but tell me where I’ll find the Captain, and 
you’ll do me a favor.” 

“ Well, I’m hanged! ” exclaimed the helmsman 
in surprise. “ Who are you, anyhow? ” 


ON THE “DORABELLE 


93 


Val explained briefly. 

“ Is that so? Well, the Cap’n was due to turn 
in at twelve, but that fire on the steamer kind 
of woke him up, and you may find him chinning 
somewhere aft with the mate.” 

Thanking his informant, Val withdrew and 
continued his search. Back along the littered 
deck he went, and as he did so the words of 
the conversation he had overheard while lying 
unnoticed on the deck were recalled by the odd 
question asked by the helmsman. Even now the 
matter made little impression on his mind, but 
afterwards he had good reason to remember. 
The door of the engine-room was open, and just 
inside a man sat half nodding in a chair. 

“ The Captain here? ” 

“ Nope! ” grunted the fellow, without looking 
up. “ He’s in his room.” 

Continuing his quest unchallenged, Val pres- 
ently reached an open door leading to what ap- 
peared to be a small cabin. He ascended a low 
step and entered a dingy, ill-smelling room, 
lighted by a swinging kerosene lamp, and fur- 
nished with a table and several chairs; and then 
that light-headed feeling from which he had so 
recently recovered assailed him once more. The 
cabin was deserted, and unnoticed he dropped 
rather than sat down in a chair and for a few 
moments everything seemed very hazy. The 
rumble and vibration of the propeller shaft in 


94 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


its casing underneath the cabin, the churn of 
the screw, the throb of the condenser pumps, the 
occasional clang of the fireman’s shovel from the 
stoke-hole — even that all-pervading odor of 
stale and rancid fish — all for the moment seemed 
dim, far-away, and unreal, the dissolving figments 
of a dream. 

Then as he sat slumped down in a big uphol- 
stered chair whose coverings were very much 
out at elbows two persons began talking in an 
adjoining stateroom. The voices were the same 
he had recently heard on deck. With the almost 
involuntary effort Val made to grasp the meaning 
of what was being said, his mind suddenly cleared 
and his faculties concentrated themselves. 

“ Two thousand dollars and rations, that’s 
what Heffier offered me, sure as I set here,” said 
the drawling voice, persuasively. “ I’ll give you 
a good slice of it ’sides your reg’lar wages.” 

“ I need the money, and I’ll do it,” agreed the 
other, promptly, “ but I don’t like the looks of 
the job.” 

“ Well, you needn’t worry about that. We 
ain’t going to have no trouble, and it’s mighty 
easy money. And now that’s settled, how about 
that paper? ” 

” Paper? What do you mean, Captain Field? ” 

“ Well, now, if you ain’t got the short memory! 
I mean that paper you got when you went ashore 
to-night.” 


ON THE “ DORABELLE 95 

“I’d rather not say anything about it,” was 
the short reply. 

“ It ain’t my nature and disposition to go 
’round prying into other folks’ business, Mr. Pike. 
‘ Live an’ let live ’ is my motto, alius.” 

“ Then live up to it.” 

“ Still, I also b’lieve,” the other continued, 
easily, “ that one good turn deserves another. 
Why, just you look here: when you come ’round 
to me last spring down to Rockland high and dry 
on your uppers and wanted a mate’s berth on 
the ‘ Dorabelle,’ did I hem and haw an’ ask you 
for your pedigree? Not much! I said: ‘ Pike, 
I don’t care who you be or where you come from, 
or what you’ve been doin’, if you can hold this 
job down it’s yours.’ Now ain’t that so? ” 

“ Sure, that’s right; but you can bet I’ve 
earned every dollar I ever drew on this boat.” 

“To be sure. I ain’t tryin’ to belittle your 
qualifications. However, when my mate goes 
ashore and keeps his boat from sailin’ for two 
hours while he’s chasin’ ’round on mysterious 
errands, and finally comes back with a mob 
howlin’ at his heels and accusin’ him of stealin’, 
an’ I have to stand ’em off for him, then it’s time, 
thinks I, that an explanation be forthcomin’, 
and a good one, too.” 

“ I’ll pay you for that boat. Don’t you worry 
over that.” 

“ That’s neither here nor there,” cried the Cap- 


96 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


tain, and he thumped his fist emphatically on 
the small desk before which he sat. “ You can 
bet I’ll get square with someone for that boat; 
but it’ll be them four fresh youngsters that run 
off with it. But them same fellers accused you 
of stealin’ a valuable paper, and the next time 
I put into Stroudport like as not you’ll be arrested, 
and I’ll be left minus a mate right in the busy 
season. I cal’late it’s up to you to explain what 
that paper is and let me know just how matters 
stand.” 

“ The secret isn’t mine,” objected the mate. 

“You look here,” the Captain said, in a firmer 
tone than he had heretofore used. “ Don’t I 
know your real name ain’t Pike? Don’t I know 
you was mixed up in something crooked last 
summer? Don’t I know you was indicted by the 
Grand Jury last fall, but never got arrested ’cause 
the officers couldn’t find you, and that indict- 
ment’s hanging over you now? Well, now, that 
secret ain’t mine, but I know it, just the same. 
Now you tell me ’bout that paper, for I know your 
pedigree, even if you didn’t give it to me.” 

All of this conversation was perfectly audible 
to Val, but it carried no particular meaning for 
him, and having no desire to be an eavesdropper 
he was about to make his presence known when 
Pike spoke. 

“ Will you swear not to try any funny business 
if I tell you? ” was his impatient demand. 


ON THE ‘‘ DORABELLE 


97 


“ Sartin! ” 

“ Then here’s the story. Afterwards I’ll show 
you the paper. Last summer I shipped as deck- 
hand on a yacht bound east for a cruise — ” 

“ Look here,” interrupted his companion, 
” wa’n’t she the ‘ Sea Rover ’? ” 

The mate paused before replying, while Val 
Brandon’s eyes began to open. He settled back 
and waited eagerly for the answer. Though Pike’s 
words thus far had been few, yet to Val his voice 
had sounded familiar. 

“ I won’t deny it,” was the response that came 
presently. “ But I want you to distinctly under- 
stand I didn’t know an3rthing about the insur- 
ance fraud when I took the job, and when I found 
it out it was too late to back out.” 

“ Just so,” was the good-humored rejoinder. 
“ I understand you. We’re alius innocent, ain’t 
we ? Leastways till we get indicted. ’ ’ He chuckled 
loudly; but the mate saw fit to disregard this 
allusion and resumed his story. 

“You probably read in the papers about what 
happened on the ‘ Sea Rover,’ for it all came out 
at the trial of those fellows ; but one thing wasn’t 
mentioned. While Jones was sailing around on 
the sloop-yacht ‘ Spitfire ’ with young Parker, 
trying to make Tower Island and get back to the 
gang, somehow he got hold of a curious old paper.” 

“ What kind of a paper, and where’d he get 
it? ” 


98 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“ It was dug up on Stone Horse Island, down 
near Codville; but just what it is I don’t know. 
Now last spring I got word from Jones in prison 
that he wanted to see me; so as I had grown a 
beard then and wasn’t afraid of being recognized 
I went over to Thomaston and had a talk with 
him. He wanted me to go to Stroudport and 
find the ‘ Spitfire.’ He told me about this paper, 
and that he hid it on the sloop last summer. 
Said that lately he had been thinking about it a 
good deal and wanted me to get it and smuggle 
it in to him. He told me, too, whereabouts on 
the yacht I would find a key to the companion 
padlock. 

“ To-night I found the yacht anchored up in 
Stroudport, went aboard, found the key and got 
in, and sure enough there was the paper just where 
he hid it last year. But before I got away 
those fellows took after me, and I had a deuce of a 
time giving them the slip.” 

” Guess I know somethin’ about that part, my- 
self. Le’s see the paper.” 

The mate evidently produced the document, 
for there was no conversation for a few moments 
— only the rustle of parchment as the Captain 
and Pike bent their heads together over it in 
wondering scrutiny. In the cabin, only a few feet 
removed from the unsuspecting pair, sat Val with 
his nerves atingle. He did not understand who 
“those fellows ” were who had chased Pike, but 



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ON THE ‘‘DORABELLE” 


99 


the rest of the narrative was clear. Clearest of 
all was the fact that the cipher taken by force 
from Sumner and his two companions had been 
found and was in the hands of the master and 
mate of the “ Dorabelle.” Debating what steps 
to take he awaited their next words. By right 
the paper belonged to the trio who had dug it 
up; but it was idle to suppose these men would 
let it go without a struggle. 

“ That’s the comicalest appearin’ thing I ever 
saw,” declared the Captain, presently. “ What 
does Jones think it is? ” 

'‘You must understand that he wasn’t taking me 
into partnership on this,” was the reply. “ I was 
doing it as a favor, and he didn’t tell me any 
more than he had to. Then again I guess it’s 
as big a puzzle to him as it looks to us ; but reading 
between the lines, as you might say, I believe 
he thinks it’s the key to hidden treasure. What 
do you make of it? ” 

“ Well, if you put it up to me. I’ll admit right 
off I’m somewhat up a stump,” was the candid 
reply. “Them pictures on top there — the 
tower, the horse and the whale — ” 

“ Whale? Is that a whale? ” 

“ Sure it’s a whale; did you think that 
was a fish? And you the mate of a po’gy 
boat,” chuckled Field. “ Now them pictures 
is plain to me. I s’pose the horse stands for 
Stone Horse Island where the document was 


100 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


found. Now do these other pictures mean is- 
lands, too? ” 

“Look here!” said Pike quickly. “There’s 
a Tower Island and a Whale Island down eastward 
as well as a Stone Horse Island; and besides, 
look on your chart and you’ll find that those three 
islands form the three points of a triangle, just 
about as the pictures do on this paper: Whale 
Island at the top, or north ; Stone Horse 
at the west, or lower left-hand comer; and 
Tower at the eastward, or lower right-hand 
comer.” 

“ You’re right! Now see here,” and the Cap- 
tain’s voice took on a very eager note, “ let’s 
you and me form a close partnership and dig 
this thing out. This paper don’t reely belong to 
Jones, anyhow. He stole it, didn’t he? Well, 
then, we’ll put our heads together and find out 
what it means, and if there’s any treasure on the 
coast of Maine lyin’ ’round loose, we’ll take the 
old ‘ Dorabelle ’ and go and nail it. What do 
you say? ” 

“Say? I say yes!” 

“ Then it’s a bargain,” said the Captain in a 
gratified voice. “ Now let’s see what we can 
make of them pothooks.” 

“ They’re a puzzle.” 

“ Do you know what they put me in mind of ? ” 
said the Captain, enthusiastically. “ Blamed if 
they don’t look some like the pricemarks I used 


3[i1l=h=hllli h 

IJ$T Tin- 

CIPHER FOUND ON STONE HORSE ISLAND.^ 



i 


ON THE “DORABELLE” 


101 


to mark goods with in my old general store down 
to Castine.” 

“ Of course I hate to disturb you, gentlemen,” 
broke in a quiet but firm voice at this stage of the 
proceedings, “ but I must ask you to give me the 
paper you have there.” 

Captain Field and Mr. Pike arose as if electrified 
to confront the sturdy figure of Val Brandon in 
the stateroom doorway. 


CHAPTER VII 


VAL MAKES A COMPROMISE 

“ Where in creation did you come from? ’’ 
demanded Captain Field, surveying Val Brandon 
in unmistakable surprise. “ Who are you, any- 
how, and how long have you been here? ” 

He held the cipher clutched tightly in one hand, 
and his final words took on something of bel- 
ligerency. As for the mate, a startled look of 
recognition crossed his features, but he quickly 
repressed it and sank back in his chair, leaving 
the conversation to the Captain. 

“ I know who you be,” declared that person 
vigorously. “ You’re Carroll Morse. Now where’s 
the rest of your valiant band that came out and 
stole my boat to-night ? Trot ’em in here and we’ll 
settle this business right off. I never expected 
to be overhauled and boarded on the high seas 
by one of them harbor buzz-tanks; but now 
you’re here bring on the rest of the crowd and 
we’ll try to git satisfaction somehow.” 

“You may know what you’re talking about. 
Captain, but I surely don’t,” replied Val, mystified 
102 


VAL MAKES A COMPROMISE 103 


by this harangue. “I’m one of the men you took 
off the burning steamer, and you can bet I’m very 
grateful to you for doing it.” 

The master of the “ Dorabelle ” lost a little of 
his warlike aspect. 

“Oh, that’s all right — that’s all right,” he 
replied. “ Why, you couldn’t expect me to let 
you bum up, now could you? ” in a deprecatory 
tone. “ But I put you fellers all ashore at Cush- 
man Island. How come it you stayed aboard 
here? ” 

Val explained his continued presence on the 
steamer, and for proof called attention to the 
bump on his head. 

“ How long you been in here? ” 

“About ten minutes, for a guess; but I felt 
pretty dizzy at the first of it, and it may have 
been longer.” 

“ Who are you, anyhow? ” was the next un- 
gracious question. 

“ My name is Brandon, and I live in Stroud- 
port.” 

“ Guess I don’t know you.” 

“ That’s of no consequence. I don’t know you 
either, but I do know something about that 
paper.” 

“ So you’ve been eavesdroppin’, have you? ” 
the Captain queried angrily. 

“Not intentionally at first,” was Val’s reply. 
“ But when I found you were talking about 


104 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


something that closely concerned me and some 
of my friends, why, I listened, up to the moment 
I interrupted you.” 

“ Well, what do you know about this? ” and 
Captain Field indicated the cipher, but a scowl 
wrinkled his forehead, and he looked far from 
pleasant. 

“ Now look here. Captain,” said Val, decidedly, 
“ I am under great obligations to you for taking 
me off the ‘ Bay Queen,' and I cheerfully acknowl- 
edge it; but that paper is another matter. I’m 
willing to talk it over reasonably with you, but 
if you are going to get cranky I warn you I can 
put up as big a fuss as you can.” 

“You little bantam — ” began the Captain; 
but the mate interrupted. 

“ Take my advice and talk it over with him.” 

“ What, do you know this feller? ” demanded 
Field, in much surprise. 

“ Of course he knows me,” broke in Val. “ He 
got mighty well acquainted with me last summer.” 

“ Friend of his, be you? ” 

“ Not much! The last time I met Mr. Pike — 
who by the way has changed his name since then 
— there was a sort of truce between us for mutual 
protection; but before that we were rather active 
enemies. Isn’t that so, Mr. — ah — Pike? ” 

I’d rather not discuss that matter here, if 
it’s all the same to you,” returned the mate, 
shortly. “ Let’s settle this cipher business.” 


VAL MAKES A COMPROMISE 105 


“ I ain’t much good at riddles,” the Captain 
declared, “ so we’d better leave ancient history 
alone. But just set down, Mr. Brandon, and tell 
us what rights you figger you have in this here 
document? ” 

Field reseated himself at his desk, and Val took 
the chair indicated. 

“ I have no personal rights in it, but as it be- 
longs to three friends of mine I claim it on their 
account.” 

“ Who be they? ” 

“ Their names are Parker, Hilton and Strodder; 
but that’s neither here nor there. The main point 
is this: that paper is stolen property, and if 
you persist in keeping it you’re liable to arrest 
and prosecution.” 

“ Well, that don’t skeer me much,” grunted 
the Captain. “ How do I know you ain’t lying? ” 

“ Your mate knows,” replied Val, instantly. 
“ He knows that Parker and his friends found 
that paper. He knows that Jones stole it from 
them and hid it on my yacht, the ‘ Spitfire.’ Don’t 
you, Mr. — ah — Pike? ” 

“ Why, I hear you say so,” was Pike’s evasive 
answer, which aroused Val’s latent spirit. 

“ I have no quarrel with either of you,” he 
declared, least of all over a piece of musty 
parchment that may not be worth the snap of a 
finger. But one thing is dead sure: if you don’t 
give me that paper peaceably now. I’ll see that 


106 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


the indictment against Pike — alias Fenderson — 
is made effective; and as for you, Captain Field, 
I’ll take good care to tip you off to the proper 
authorities, and have them keep an eye on you.” 

For a full minute after Val delivered this ulti- 
matum neither the Captain nor the mate said a 
word. They gazed at each other in some per- 
turbation. 

At length the mate broke the silence. 

“ You’d better give it to him,” said he. 

“ Well, I’d just like to know why? ” the Captain 
demanded. “ Do you think I’m going to jump 
the first time somebody comes along and hollers 
‘ Boo! ’ at me? ” 

“ We’ll never get rid of him any other way,” 
asserted Pike. “You don’t know this fellow’s 
disposition, but I have good reason to. He’s 
one of the boys that Bangs took to Tower Island 
last summer on the ‘ Sea Rover,’ and he did 
more than anybody else to make that scheme 
fall through.” 

Apparently this declaration impressed the Cap- 
tain, yet he was very loth to give up the cipher 
just when he was becoming so interested in it. 

“ I’ll let ye have it,” he finally agreed, “ on 
one condition.” 

“ What is that? ” 

You’ll have to give me a copy of it.” 

And on this point he was firm. No amount 
of argument, no threats that Val could make, 


VAL MAKES A COMPROMISE 107 


would budge him a hair. On the contrary he 
declared that if Val would not give him a copy 
he would be put ashore without any cipher at all. 

“ And you can go to thunder with your United 
States officers and indictments, and be darned,” 
he concluded, with emphasis. 

Now all of this time Captain Roderick’s re- 
volver was reposing in one of Val Brandon’s 
hip pockets. It was loaded, and Val had by no 
means forgotten its presence. Very likely by 
displaying it he might overawe his two com- 
panions and force them to surrender the cipher; 
but after that? He had no idea how many men 
there were aboard the “ Dorabelle,” and in spite 
of the revolver they would probably be able to 
take him unawares in some way, and he would 
find himself in a worse situation than at pres- 
ent. 

“ Half a loaf is better than no bread,” he 
thought. 

So he agreed to the proposal. Paper and pen 
and ink were produced and Val sat down at the 
captain’s desk. There, while Field and Pike 
watched his every pen-stroke with keenly critical 
eyes, he copied the odd characters of the parch- 
ment. Each vertical line and each cross line was 
scrupulously imitated, as well as the triangle 
and the three rude pictures at its points. When 
he had finished, his companions carefully com- 
pared the copy with the original, and the Captain, 


108 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


apparently satisfied, gave Val the parchment 
and put the other in his pocket. 

“ That’s done,” he said, with an air of relief, 
“ and now if there’s any value in them pot-hooks 
the first one that finds it out’s the best feller. 
Ain’t that so? ” 

“ That’s it, exactly,” answered Val. “If it 
means anything, the first man on the spot gets 
the goods; but it’s no fool job to solve that cipher. 
I tried all last winter to puzzle one out, and I 
haven’t done it yet.” 

“You mean to say you’ve seen this document 
before? ” queried the Captain in surprise. “ Then 
what makes you so anxious to get — ” 

“ Oh, no. But I have another cipher that looks 
very much like this one, and may be based on 
the same key; but it’s different. The characters 
are not arranged the same.” 

“ Well, I want to know? Where’d you git it? ” 

“ Found it on Tower Island last summer.” 

“ Ain’t got it with you, have you? ” 

“ No.” 

“Well, some things is mighty surprising in 
these days when you expect everything to be 
purty humdrum; but our business is closed and 
I- reckon you’re thinking about getting ashore. 
About three o’clock in the morning, if nothing 
breaks down, we’ll land you at the iron pier at Old 
Orchard. They tell me that po’gies is runnin’ in 
Saco Bay, and that’s where we’re headin’.” 


VAL MAKES A COMPROMISE 109 

Val expressed his satisfaction with this arrange- 
ment. 

“ There’s just one thing I want of Mr. Pike 
before we go,” he added. 

“ What’s that? ” asked that person quickly, 
and in a tone of apprehension. 

“ That key to the ‘ Spitfire’s ’ companion.” 

Pike handed it over with a short laugh. 

“ ’Twon’t be any further use to me, but I’d 
like to have a word with you in private on deck 
if the Captain don’t mind,” he said. He led Val 
out to a secluded spot aft, and began an anxious 
argument. 

“Now tell me, are you going to give me away 
to the officers? ” he demanded. “ I want you 
to understand, Mr. Brandon, that I have suffered 
for getting mixed up in that ‘ Sea Rover ’ affair 
last summer. After I left the yacht when she 
ran ashore on Whale Island it was a hardscrabble 
for mine, all right, sleeping out-doors, and 
living on clams and blueberries. Nothing like 
clams and blueberries to make a fellow home- 
sick.” 

“ How did you get away? ” Val asked. 

“ After awhile I found the village at the north 
end of the island — they call it Cheney Landing — 
and shipped for Philadelphia on a stone barge. 
At Philadelphia I struck a piece of luck and got 
a berth as mate on a four-master. We went to 
Florida and came back to New York with lumber; 


no 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


and then got a charter to go to the Gulf and carry 
coal from Pensacola, Florida, to Tampico, down 
in Mexico, all winter.” 

“ So that’s what became of you,” mused Val. 
“ I often wondered how you managed to disap- 
pear so completely.” 

That’s the way; but when spring came we 
ran around to Femandina and loaded a cargo 
of railroad ties for Stroudport. Of course I didn’t 
feel anxious to get back to Maine, for I knew that 
everyone but the crazy engineer, Marshall, and 
myself were in State’s prison.” 

“ Where is Marshall now? Do you know? ” 

“ Why, sure. He’s in the asylum at Augusta. 
Didn’t you know that? But I don’t think the 
officers know it’s Marshall, the old engineer of 
the ‘ Sea Rover,’ that is shut up in the nut fac- 
tory. As near as I can find out he lived in an old 
hut down on Whale Island till he got so crazy 
the people wouldn’t have him ’round, and they 
shipped him to Augusta, though they didn’t know 
his name.” 

“ Well, what happened to you after you reached 
Stroudport? ” 

“ We got a charter to go to Bangor and load 
ice for Washington; but we never got there. 
We were running up toward Penobscot Bay as 
nice as you please, when we struck a sunken 
derelict that knocked a fearful hole in our bow. 
We managed to put one boat over and get into 


VAL MAKES A COMPROMISE 111 


it before the schooner sunk. We were all safe, 
but we didn’t save anything. Then the steamer 
‘ Ransom B. Fuller ’ picked us up and landed 
us at Rockland. And there I was, stranded, 
without a cent, for I lost all my money when the 
schooner went down, and had only the clothes 
on my back left. 

“ Then I met Captain Field, here, and now 
you see me, mate of the ‘ Dorabelle. ’ But this 
hard-luck business has nothing to do with last 
summer. Many a time have I cursed the day 
I heard of Bangs and the ‘ Sea Rover.’ I had no 
interest in their plot ; but just got caught in it. I 
think I have suffered enough, don’t you? And 
I want to know this: are you going to send me 
travelling again, or not? ” 

Val pondered the matter some moments before 
making reply. This was an aspect of the case that 
he had not considered. 

“You put me in a hard place,” he finally said. 
“ How can I make myself a judge of the rights 
and wrongs of this matter? Why shouldn’t the 
courts do that? But, on the other hand,” he 
continued, “ you took my side against that crazy 
man Marshall when he ran away with the ‘ Sea 
Rover,’ and put me under obligation to you to 
that extent. 

“ This is what I’ll do; I’ll talk the whole busi- 
ness over with a much wiser person than I am — 
my father — and what he advises I will do. But, 


112 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


anyhow, I’ll write you our decision before we do 
anything.” 

“ Send your letter to ‘ Charles Pike, Cheney 
Landing, Whale Island, Maine,’ ” said the mate, 
“ and don’t send me off on the tramp again.” 

It was nearly three o’clock in the morning when 
the ” Dorabelle ” steamed slowly up to the outer 
end of the long iron pier at Old Orchard. All was 
dark on the pier, and as the steamer had no search- 
light she proceeded with much caution. 

” Plenty of water here,” said Val, as he stood 
near the Captain in the bow trying to see ahead, 
while that worthy occasionally gave an order 
to the man in the pilot-house. “ Eighteen feet 
at low tide, but it’s on the flow now.” 

” Oh, I ain’t afraid about the water. I just 
don’t want to knock the pier over,” was the ban- 
tering reply. “ It got blowed away once, you 
know — a piece of it — and I ain’t going to stand 
for no damage suits.” 

After some nosing around the “ Dorabelle ” 
made fast, and Val was about to climb up on the 
pier when Field placed a detaining hand on his 
shoulder. 

” What’s your rush? ” he asked. “ You can’t 
get a train to Stroudport for some hours yit. 
What I want to say to you is this : Don’t you go 
to luggin’ ashore no wrong ideas about me — that’s 
what I want to impress on your mind.” He spoke 
with much earnestness. 


VAL MAKES A COMPROMISE 113 


“ Now of course I don’t exactly know what 
you may have overheard me and Pike talkin’ 
about here before you made yourself known,” 
he continued, “ but no matter what it was, it 
was all honest and above board, so fur as the law 
is concerned. In the po’gy business it’s first come 
first served, and we ’casionally cut sharp comers to 
git there early; but I cal’late we know enough 
to steer clear of the law.” 

“ I’m glad to hear you say so. Captain, and I’ll 
try to remember it, and what was it,” — ven- 
tured Val, as he set foot on the pier steps — 
” what was it you said about pricemarks? ” 

“Nothin’! Nothin’ at all!” was the stout 
reply. “ There ain’t a thing in it! ” 

With this parting shot fired after him Val 
climbed to the planking above, while the fishing 
steamer cast off her line and moved slowly away. 
And I feel quite sure that if at this juncture Val 
Brandon could have foreseen the results that 
were to come from his telling Captain Field about 
the Tower Island cipher, he would have felt 
just like kicking himself the entire length of that 
long pier. 

But to that indiscretion he gave no thought as 
he walked shoreward. Despite the weariness 
coming from a night of no rest and much excite- 
ment, Val found himself pondering once more 
the subject of the mysterious ciphers. 

He had worked enthusiastically, even feverishly 


114 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


at times, trying to extract the meaning of the 
Tower Island cipher, but in vain, till gradually 
he had given it up as a hopeless cas^ Now, how- 
ever, the chance recovery of the other cipher, so 
similar to his own and yet with apparently a 
different meaning, stirred again his interest. He 
was anxious to get home and compare this new 
acquisition with the other ; and, further, he 
wanted to find out about pricemarks. That re- 
mark of Captain Field had roused his curiosity. 
What there might be in pricemarks that could 
solve the ciphers he couldn’t say. His own knowl- 
edge of such things was vague. He merely knew 
that merchants marked their goods with secret 
symbols that told to the initiated the cost and 
the selling price; but he determined to leave no 
stone unturned in his efforts, and pricemarks 
seemed to be one of the “ stones.” 

Val slept soundly^ for three hours on a cot 
provided by an accommodating night-clerk at 
a near-by hotel, rose at six, called his father at 
home on the long-distance telephone and told 
him where he had been, and boarded the first 
train for Stroudport with a copy of the Stroudport 
News in his hand. 

“ Anything about the ‘ Bay Queen,’ I wonder .f* ” 
he mused, as he sat down and opened the sheet, 
and then his face suddenly flushed. It was not 
every day that a steamer blew up and burned in 
Stroudport Bay, and the News reporters had made 


VAL MAKES A COMPROMISE 115 


the most of it. Glaring headlines gave the salient 
points, and finer type the details. 

“ Steamer Bay Queen Blows Up and Bums! 
Two hundred persons in deadly peril 1 Courageous 
work of crew and volunteers! ” 

Then followed a detailed account of the catas- 
trophe^ from which Val learned the identity of 
the young men in the motor-boat. It also stated 
that only the upper works of the steamer were 
consumed, as the fire-boat had arrived in time 
to save the hull. There were numerous stories of 
“ personal experience of survivors ” in which the 
grit and presence of mind of Captain Roderick 
were highly praised; but it remained for the 
Captain himself to cap the climax in the interview 
he gave the reporters. Undoubtedly he had stuck 
to the facts as he knew them, but the News man 
had given his imagination free rein, for he devoted 
a lot of space to the exploits of “ Percival Brandon 
of Stroudport, the volunteer pilot, who, while 
flames were bursting out beneath him, bravely 
stuck to his post in the wheelhouse and steered 
the burning steamer for the shoals of Jackson 
Island.” 

It also detailed how, after the stopping of the 
machinery had rendered the wheel useless, the 
same Brandon had “ gone fearlessly among the 
frenzied passengers and calmed their fears,” and 
then had led a volunteer force in launching the 
life-boats. 


116 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


It made Val feel foolish. 

“ I call that the limit! he remarked to himself 
as he stepped off the train in the Stroudport 
station ; and then, turning, he found himself look- 
ing into the face of Alf Richardson. 


CHAPTER VIII 


ON THE TRACK 

Although Alf Richardson had scarcely closed 
his eyes at all during the night just passed yet 
he looked as fresh and jaunty as one could wish. 

“ You’re just the fellow I want to see,” ex- 
claimed Val Brandon as the two came face to face. 

“ Halloo, you volunteer pilot and general all- 
’round hero! ” was the lively response, as Alf 
gripped his hand and pumped it vigorously. 
“ How does it feel to be famous.? 

“ If I’d had any idea you were coming into town 
on this train — and I’ll be hanged if I can under- 
stand where you are coming from anyhow — you’d 
have been welcomed by a brass band and the 
mayor and the militia and the High School 
Cadets! ” declared Alf, in a breath. 

“ Much obliged! ” laughed Val; “ but I notice 
they didn’t leave you altogether in the rear when 
the bouquets were handed out.” 

“Not on your life! They excavated a little 
niche in the hall of fame and poked me into it, 
along with the other fellows on the ‘ Ginger.’ But 
117 


118 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


I tell you, Val Brandon, that for downright ex- 
citement that fire last night beat anything I ever 
saw or dreamed of. The way Captain Roderick 
handed those folks down to us and we passed ’em 
along to the other boats was a caution. Women 
screaming, and women crying, and women as cool 
as you please, coming down into the ‘ Ginger ’ in 
droves, while the Captain held those men back 
with his revolver. Oh, it was great! And the 
fire roaring and bursting out of the engine-room 
windows, while we four fellows were almost 
crazy with the excitement of it all! ” 

“ Sit down here and tell me something,” re- 
quested Val, finally, after the incidents of the fire 
had received several minutes’ consideration. 
“ Now tell me what you know about pricemarks,” 
he continued, after they were seated in the depot 
waiting room. “You work for a hardware con- 
cern, and they must have ’em.” 

“ Can’t do it, old man,” said Alf, briefly. 

“ The dickens you can’t! Why not? ” 

“ It’s a secret.” 

“ Fudge! I don’t want you to reveal any trade 
mysteries; just give me a little idea of the systems 
of pricemarks that are used.” 

“ Oh, is that all? ” said Alf, with his eyes twin- 
kling. “ Well, then, you just take a word of ten 
letters — no two alike — and let the letters stand 
for the ten numerals from one up to nought ; then 
when you mark your goods you use the letters 


ON THE TRACK 


119 


that stand for the figures instead of the figures 
themselves.” 

“ I’ve heard about that method. But tell me, 
Alf, did you ever see this sort of a price-mark? ” 
and Val drew on the margin of his newspaper 
a character that looked like this : 



“ Sure thing,” was the prompt reply. “ My 
people don’t use that system, but I know some 
concerns that do. That means ‘7,’ or maybe 


“ Seven, or five? Well, how do you make it? ” 
“ Dead easy when you know how. Now you 
start with a vertical line like this: 


“ Now that vertical line has no value; but 
when you draw a line from it to the left, like this : 



that line means one ; and when you draw a line 
to the right, so fashion: 


120 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


it adds three, making the whole amount to four. 
That is, each line drawn to the left counts one, 
and each line to the right counts three. So you 
see that what you just asked me about counts 
seven, for there is one line to the left, counting 
one, and two to the right counting three apiece, 
which makes seven in all. Do you get me? 

“Yes, that seems very simple.” 

“ Why, of course, a mere child can operate it,” 
laughed Alf. “ And you can vary the system by 
giving different values to the horizontal lines; 
for instance, you can call the lines to the left 
three, and those to the right one. That will 
make your drawing count five instead of seven. 
See? ” 

“ And you can hitch these horizontal lines on 
to the vertical one anywhere you please? ” 

“ Yep. Top, bottom, or middle, it makes no 
difference; but the value never runs higher than 
nine; for when you run up to ten or more, you 
use a character for each digit, just the same as in 
numbers.” 

“ I understand; but see here, Alf,” questioned 
Val, with increasing earnestness, “ tell me, if you 
can, what this means.” He made the following 
character on the newspaper: 


ON THE TRACK 


121 



“ I*m poor on Chinese laundry marks,” pro- 
tested his companion. “ One shirtee, two cuff, 
four collah, maybe, perhaps, I don’t think.” 

“Oh, no.” 

“Well, have it your own way. It’s no price- 
mark I ever saw. What is it? ” 

“ I don’t know, but I’m trying to find out. 
Much obliged to you, Alf, and so long. I’m off 
for home and the breakfast table.” 

Val found little time at breakfast for eating, 
owing to the numerous questions of his father 
and mother regarding the fire. They had not 
worried over his absence, since business occasion- 
ally took him away from home over night, and 
the first inkling they had received of the dis- 
aster to the “ Bay Queen ” was when the morning 
paper had been left at the door. 

As soon as opportunity afforded Val brought 
up the subject of the mate of the “ Dorabelle,” 
Pike, alias Fenderson. 

“You can’t assume the responsibility of de- 
ciding such a question,” declared his father at 
once. “ Don’t you see, if you know the where- 
abouts of this fellow and keep quiet about it, 
you make yourself an accessory? But there’s one 
thing we can do. I am well acquainted with the 


122 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


County Attorney, and we will write him the story 
as we know it, and if he is willing to discontinue 
the case against Fenderson — ‘ quash the in- 
dictment,’ as they term it — the Judge will 
probably do it on his recommendation. He has 
caught and sent to prison all the big fish in that 
case, and very likely he would be willing to let 
the matter drop, if he knew the real facts about 
Fenderson.” 

The upshot of this talk was that Mr. Brandon 
wrote the details of the matter to the County 
Attorney, but before the latter had taken any 
steps toward discontinuing the case something 
else came up involving the mate of the “ Dora- 
belle ” that entirely eclipsed it. 

Val hustled to the office that morning as soon 
as possible. As he rode downtown on the trolley- 
car one or two ideas that he had been turning over 
in his mind gradually took coherent form, and 
he mapped out a definite scheme for attacking 
the secret of the two ciphers. 

Val was the private secretary to Mr. Culberson, 
the State Manager for the Liberty Mutual Life 
Insurance Company. On this day the Manager 
was in Lewiston, but Val found plenty of work 
on hand. He disposed of the routine correspond- 
ence, brought the Manager’s private books up to 
date, and having thus cleared the calendar of the 
daily work, he ascertained that the “ Storm King ” 
had got in the evening before, succeeded in locat- 


ON THE TRACK 


123 


ing Carroll on the telephone after a good deal of 
effort, and requested him to come with Sumner 
to the office by three o’clock that afternoon. 

“ You fellows be sure to be on hand, for I 
expect to have something to show you that will 
make your eyes bulge out! ” said he, as the con- 
versation ended. 

Then seating himself at his desk in the private 
sanctum of the Agency he produced the two 
ciphers and spread them out in front of him. 

“ Now, you old fossils,” he declared, as he 
sharpened a pencil, “ we’re going to have a fresh 
wrassle with you in a brand new way.” And with 
a figuring pad at his elbow he proceeded to put 
his latest theory to the test. Minutes passed in 
earnest endeavor, while thoughtful wrinkles cor- 
rugated his brow as he concentrated his mind 
on the difficult task. He was thus engaged when 
the door opened abruptly, and Carroll and Sumner 
rushed in. 

Val promptly swept the ciphers and all other 
evidence of his work into a drawer, and rose to 
greet his chums. There was enough to talk about, 
for the trip to Philadelphia on the tug and the 
entire detail of the “ Bay Queen ” fire had to be 
gone over with great minuteness, so they sat 
down and went at it. 

“ And those four boats from the steamer leaked 
like sieves,” declared Carroll, finally. 

“ All the poor ladies had very wet feet before 


124 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


they landed at Jackson Island,” Sumner corrob- 
orated. “ But perhaps we fellows on the ‘ Ginger ’ 
didn’t have the time of our lives! But there — 
oh, I say, Val,” and Sumner’s usually breezy 
manner became very much subdued, for he pulled 
his chair nearer to the young secretary’s desk, 
mopped a perspiring forehead — it was a warm 
day — and continued dolefully: “ Val, we’ve 
found it, and lost it again. It’s gone — gone for 
good, and we are a great big bunch of chumps! ” 
“ It’s very hard for me to believe you,” replied 
Val, in mock sympathy. “ Try to bear up under 
the blow. What is gone for good? ” 

“ I say,” demanded Sumner, “ why didn’t we 
ever think to go out to the ‘ Spitfire ’ and hunt 
to see if Jones didn’t hide that Stone Horse Island 
cipher on board? Tell me, why didn’t we? ” 

” Hunt on the ‘ Spitfire ’ for the Stone Horse 
Island cipher? ” repeated Val. “ What’s the 
matter with you? I’ve hunted that yacht from 
end to end at least half a dozen times for that very 
thing; but it wasn’t there.” 

“You never told me about it,” in an aggrieved 
tone. 

“ I knew that if I couldn’t find it you couldn’t, 
so what was the use? But what do you mean by 
‘ something being gone for good? ’ ” 

“ He means the Stone Horse Island cipher,” said 
Carroll. 

“ Well, of course it’s gone,” and Val pretended 


ON THE TRACK 


125 


impatience. “ Jones stole it last summer. What 
are you rattling all these dry bones ^ for, any- 
how? ” 

“ Because Cal and I foimd the cipher.” 

“ Come, wake up; it’s morning. Sum. You’re 
having a dream! ” 

“ No sir! At any rate we found out where it 
was just in time to see it go.” 

“ Tell us about it,” requested Val. And be- 
tween them Sumner and Carroll detailed the in- 
cidents connected with the search for the cipher, 
and the pursuit of the intruder on the “ Spitfire,” 
carrying the narrative up to the moment of the 
discovery of trouble on the “Bay Queen.” 

“ That explains why Captain Field called me 
Carroll Morse; and I also understand why he 
was somewhat warm under the collar at you 
fellows,” remarked Val, as he opened a drawer 
and produced the Tower Island cipher. 

“ Would you know that cipher if you saw it 
again? ” he asked. “ Is this it? ” 

“ Sure I would,” said Sumner, promptly. “No; 
that’s your cipher.” 

“ Then is it this one? ” and Val smilingly 
spread before them another parchment that very 
much resembled the first. His companions gazed 
at it in open-mouthed perplexity. 

“ Where — where on earth did you get that, 
Val Brandon? ” they both asked, at the same 
time. 


126 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“ From Captain Field and his mate Pike on 
the po’gy ' steamer ‘ Dorabelle ’ at about one 
o’clock this morning, somewhere between the 
‘ Two Lights ’ and Old Orchard pier,” and Val 
rapidly outlined the adventures that befell him 
after leaving the burning steamer. 

“And you gave them a copy of it?” asked 
Sumner, grudgingly. 

“ Had to. Sum. It was the only bargain I 
could drive. But here’s the best news of all. 
I’ve got a clue to the meaning! Draw your 
chairs close, and listen hard.” 

The trio gathered about Val’s desk, and that 
young man proceeded to tell some of his ideas 
about the deciphering of cryptograms. 

“ Now, fellows, we’ve done a lot of work on this 
Tower Island document, and we always landed 
just where we started. 

“ The weak point of most kinds of crypto- 
grams is that the frequent repetition of the letters 
gives a clue to the meaning. Now we know that 
' E ’ is the commonest letter, so by counting up 
the character most used in a cryptogram, we 
decide that stands for ‘ E.’ ‘ A,’ ‘ O,’ ‘ N ’ and 

' I ’ come next, and so on. Then we find that all 
words of a single letter must be either ‘ A,’ ‘ I ’ or 
‘ O,’ and the most frequent double letters are 
‘ EE,’ ‘ 00,’ ‘ FF,’ ‘ LL,’ and ‘ SS.’ There are a 
lot of other things like this that can be applied to 
solving the ordinary forms of cipher, for in this 


ON THE TRACK 


127 


way the letter of the secret message can be clas- 
sified.” 

“ That’s the method Poe used to solve his 
famous cipher,” said Carroll. 

” And Conan Doyle made Sherlock Holmes 
apply the same rules to the dancing men cipher,” 
returned Val, “ but it won’t work with either of 
ours.” 

“That’s right,” Sumner corroborated, “be- 
cause there’s no two characters alike, and 
everything runs together. It’s all one long 
word.” 

Carroll examined both ciphers and found this 
to be true of each. 

“ The captain of the po’gy steamer put an idea 
into my head about this thing,” said Val, “ though 
he tried afterwards to knock it out again,” and 
he explained what he had learned about price- 
marks. 

“I believe that each of these marks has a nu- 
merical value, and assume that this value corre- 
sponds to the position of some letter as it occurs 
in regular order in the alphabet. That is, A is 
one, B is two, C is three, and so on. Before you 
fellows came I was working along on this scheme ; 
but the difficult thing is to find what value to give 
to the different kinds of lines that each character 
has, and you can only find out by trying over 
and over. Here is an alphabet table I made up,” 
and he produced the following: 


128 AN ISLAND SECRET 


A 

B 

C 

D 

E 

F 

G 

H 

I 

I 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

I 

K 

L 

M 

N 

0 

P 

Q 

R 

lO 

II 

12 

13 

14 

IS 

16 

17 

18 

S 

T 

U 

V 

W 

X 

Y 

z 


19 

20 

21 

22 

23 

24 

25 

26 



“ So you understand,” said Val, smiling at his 
intensely interested audience, “ by this scheme 
a character that has the value of one will mean 
A, and so on. One whose value is five will stand 
for E. 

“ I have tried several values on these lines, but 
nothing came of it but a jumble of letters that 
didn’t mean anything. Now let’s get busy and 
try another combination. Say we assume that 
the vertical line is only a base line and has no 
value — for you see there is no character in either 
cipher but has more than the vertical line — 
let each line to the right count one, each line to 
the left, three; each short vertical line upward 
five; and each one downward ten. Now then, 
we’re off. You take the alphabet table. Sum, and 
Cal and I will count up on the cipher.” 

“ Lordy,” muttered Sumner, “ we may have 
to try a small million of combinations before we 
hit anything.” 

“ You’re dead right,” Carroll said, “ but there’s 
no other way to get at it that I can see. Go 
ahead, I’m getting nervous.” 

“ Say, fellows, that combination won’t work,” 


ON THE TRACK 


129 


declared Sumner, who had been looking over Val’s 
shoulder at the cipher. “ According to your 
scheme the highest value should be twenty-six 
for Z, but here’s a lot with three or more short 
vertical marks downward, which would count up 
thirty and over. You’re straining the alphabet, 
fellows.” 

” That’s right, too,” agreed Val, after a mo- 
ment’s study. ” Then let’s give all the short 
verticals the same value of five, whether they run 
up or down.” 

“ That’ll be much better,” Carroll commented. 
“ Now for the first one.” 

” It has five lines to the left, making fifteen; 
three to the right, making three, and one vertical 
at five — total 23.” 

” Which means W,” said Sumner, setting it 
down on a pad. “ Next! ” 

“ The next has two lines to the left, making 6; 
one to the right making i, and two verticals, 10. 
Total 17.” 

“ And that’s Q,” which Sumner put down on 
the pad next to the W. 

“ Wrong tack, fellows — we’re on the wrong 
tack,” declared Carroll, glancing at Sumner’s pad. 
” Who ever heard of a word beginning with WQ? ” 

“ Let me teU you. Cal Morse,” retorted Sumner, 
with mock asperity, “ when you pass away, all 
knowledge won’t perish from the earth, if you 
are going to college.” 


130 


AN ISLAND . SECRET 


“ Oh, very well,” was Carroll’s unrufhed reply. 
“ Try another, then, and be convinced.” 

“ The next has three lines to the left, 9; one to 
right, i; three verticals, 15; total 25.” 

“ In other words, Y,” and Sumner put that 
on the pad, while Carroll’s face wore an amused 
smile. 

“ Next has two lines to left, 6; one to right, i ; 
three verticals, 15; total 22.” 

Sumner set down a V. 

“ W-Q-Y-V,” read Carroll, aloud. “Now will 
you believe me ? This is no good ; let’s try another 
set of values.” 

“ All right,” Sumner reluctantly conceded, “ or 
else try this one on the other cipher. Now perhaps 
they aren’t alike.” 

“Try the Stone Horse Island cipher,” said 
Val, “ and come back to this later. Here we go: 
the first character has two lines to the left, 6; 
one to right, i; making 7.” 

“ G,” announced Sumner. 

“ Next has four to left, 12; and three to right, 
3, making 15.” 

“ O,” put down Sumner. 

“ Now that looks O.K.,” remarked Carroll. 
“ Give us another.” 

“ One to left, 3 ; two to right, 2 ; three verticals, 
15; total 20.” 

And Sumner added a T to the GO. 

The next four characters were treated in 


ON THE TRACK 131 

like manner, and at the end the pad showed 
this: 


“GOTH RE 

“Now what does ‘ gothree ’ mean? ” asked 
Sumner. 

“ It means: ‘ Go three,’ ” cried Val, suddenly, 
while a look of great delight illumined his face. 
“ By ginger, fellows! we’ve got it at last! We’ve 
got it at last! ” And yielding to the excitement 
of the moment he seized his companions and they 
executed an impromptu dance around the office. 

When at last the jubilant trio got down to 
business again, amid excitement but illy repressed 
they worked out the following from the cipher 
found on Stone Horse Island: 

“GOTHREEHUNDREDAND 

TWENTYFROMONSHOREOF 

ISLANDANDBOXBENEATH.” 

This jumble of letters after a little considera- 
tion was resolved into the following words: 

“ Go three htmdred and twenty from on shore 
of island and box beneath.” 

“ Now what do you glean from that mess? ” 
asked Carroll, as they gazed with puzzled eyes at 
the words that Val had written out. 

“ Three hundred and twenty what f ” Sumner 
demanded. “ Feet, yards, rods? ” 


132 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“ What island, too? ” continued Val. “ And 
what is the box beneath? ” 

For several moments they sat silent, racking 
their brains for the meaning of the cipher’s 
translation, which seemed but a degree less 
baffling than had the cipher itself. 

“ It’s not complete,” declared Carroll, presently. 
‘‘ There are words missing. I’ll bet.” 

“ I think I see a light,” interposed Val, at this 
point, and the others turned eagerly to him. 

“ Now, just supposing,” he went on, “ this 
cipher gives the clue to the hiding place of treas- 
ure, or an3rthing else — ” 

“ Treasure, of course,” averred Sumner, stoutly. 
— there are several factors to be considered. 
First, we have to know the point from which the 
clue starts; secondly, the direction to be taken 
from the starting point; thirdly, the distance; 
and fourthly, what sort of a hiding place to 
look for. 

“Now this translation doesn’t give any of these 
things at all definitely, so, as Cal says, there 
must be words missing; and until we know what 
they are and where they fit in, we are just as 
badly off as before.” 

“ Then let’s dig at the Tower Island cipher,” 
advised Sumner, “ for I’ll bet a cent that’ll tell 
us just what we want to know.” 

“ Reverse the values we used on this cipher, 
and try them on the other,” suggested Carroll. 


ON THE TRACK 


133 


“ Let each line to the left count one, each line to 
the right count three ; but let the verticals count 
five, the same as before.” 

And so they went at it, carefully but eagerly, 
forgetful of suppertime; thinking of nothing but 
their determination to drag from those old parch- 
ments the last vestige of meaning they pos- 
sessed. Taking the values suggested by Carroll 
the first letter set down on Sumner’s pad was S. 
Then followed 0-U-T-H-W-E-S-T. 

“ Southwest! ” cried Val, ecstatically. “ Boys, 
we’re on the right track again! ” 

Half an hour of ardent labor produced the fol- 
lowing as the translation of the Tower Island 
cipher : 

“ Southwest paces cross eastern whale find tilt- 
ing rock.” 

“ Now,” said Val, when this result had been 
reached, “ here are some words that look mighty 
promising. Let’s see if they will fit into the other 
translation and make the meaning complete.” 

To make a long story short, the words of the 
second translation fitted with great nicety into 
certain places of the first, and when finally the 
boys had adjusted things to their satisfaction, the 
combination of words read as follows: 

“ Go southwest three himdred and twenty 
paces from cross on eastern shore of Whale Island 
and find box beneath tilting rock.” 

I will not attempt to follow out the thread of 


134 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


the conversation, long and excited, that ensued 
after the solving of the two ciphers. When at last 
the meeting broke up reluctantly — for it was 
long past supper time — it was determined that 
Jim Hilton and Professor Strodder should be in- 
vited to go on the expedition to Whale Island, 
that, in fact, they were entitled to the privilege. 
Further than this, Val had declared his purpose 
to try and get Captain Roderick’s motor-boat 
“ Screamer ” to make the trip, and let the sloop 
“ Spitfire ” stay at her anchorage. Sumner was 
detailed to write Jim Hilton, and as no one of 
them knew the professor’s address, Sumner was 
also to ask Jim to pass the word along to 
him. 

“ Boys,” said Val, decisively, as they finally 
separated, “ remember, mum’s the word. Don’t 
breathe a word of this to anyone but your own 
people, and make them cross their throats,” he 
warned. “ Just as soon as we can get our little 
band together we’ll run down to Whale Island 
and find that box under the tilting rock.” 

However, Stunner did not go home at once 
even though he was himgry. He hurried to the 
telegraph office and wired a long message, charges 
collect, to Jim Hilton, in Burlington, Ver- 
mont. 

“ It’s so much cheaper to send telegrams col- 
lect,” mused Stunner as he frowned thoughtfully 
over the yellow blank, “ and Jim will be so tickled 


ON THE TRACK 135 

to hear the good news that he won’t mind the 
expense.” 

The telegram read as follows: 

“ Ciphers solved. Expedition starts for Penob- 
scot Bay at once. Notify Professor Strodder 
and come as soon as you can with your camping 
clothes. Going on motor-boat. Sumner.” 

“ Lordy, but that’s a big sight easier than writ- 
ing letters, besides saving expense,” muttered 
Sumner, with a sigh of relief, as he turned the 
message over to the clerk, “ and I’ll bet it’ll 
open his eyes, as well as his wallet.” 

About ten o’clock the next forenoon Sumner 
discovered Jim was getting back at him with his 
own game. A telegram arrived for Sumner with 
charges due of over two dollars. 

“ Great Scott, he’s sent me a letter,'' he groaned, 
as he drew upon his stock of spending money to 
meet the bill. 

This was Jim’s reply: 

“ Hurrah! Glad to hear the good news! ” “Of 
course he is,” grumbled Sumner, “ and he might 
know I’d know it without making me pay s’teen 
cents a word to tell me.” “ I don’t know where 
the Professor is, so cannot notify him. Will 
arrive Stroudport next Monday with kit. Wire 
immediately diameter flywheel and engine revo- 
lutions per minute, Jim.” 


136 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


That word “ kit ” puzzled Sumner a good deal; 
but regarding the last of the message he was firm. 
He refused to answer by telegraph any foohsh 
questions about engines. His next message would 
be by mail, for this telegram business was too 
expensive. 


CHAPTER IX 


THE EXPEDITION STARTS 

All we’ll need is a compass, a tape-line and 
a crow-bar,” declared Sumner Parker, as he sat 
swinging his legs over the string-piece of Stevens 
Wharf. “ I’ve thought it all out, and we can 
get along with just those. 

“ Why, don’t you see, fellows,” he continued, 
turning to Val and Cal, who were seated beside 
him, “ all we’ve got to do is to go down to Whale 
Island, find that cross on the eastern shore, go 
southwest three hundred and twenty paces from 
it, and find that box under the tilting rock.” 

The trio were waiting with what patience they 
could muster for Captain Roderick to appear 
with the motor-boat “Screamer.” The clerk in 
the office of the Stroudport Steamboat Company 
had informed them that the Captain had taken a 
party of insurance men in his launch down to 
inspect the remains of the “ Bay Queen,” but 
would return at four o’clock. It was four now, 
but the “ Screamer ” had not come. 

“ To hear you tell it. Sum, the whole thing is 
137 


138 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


a pie — just a pie,” said Carroll, as he sat down 
after rising for about the hundredth time to look 
down harbor. “ But has it ever occurred to you 
that Whale Island is eight miles long, and that we 
may have to hunt the whole length of that eastern 
shore to find the cross, if there is any left there 
now? ” 

“ If it was wooden it’s rotted down long ago,” 
contributed Val. “If it was an iron cross, it’s 
probably rusted down, or somebody’s taken it for 
old junk ; and if it was a cross of stones, then the 
storms and frost and wind have knocked it over.” 

“ Don’t look so blue, Sum,” laughed Cal, as 
Sumner’s face fell at this recital of probabilities. 
“ But it’s a fact, just the same, for that cross is 
the thing to find first, and it’s a safe bet it’ll be 
a big sight harder to discover the cross than it will 
be to find the tilting rock afterwards.” 

“ Even if we find the cross don’t you think 
it wiU be hard to run a line to the rock? ” asked 
Val. “ Did you ever try to run out a line with 
nothing but a compass to go by? Well I have, 
and it’s no pie! Just let me tell you something: 
according to the encyclopedia a pace may be 
either two and a half, three, or five feet long. The 
military pace is two and a half, the ‘ double- 
quick ’ or running pace is three feet, and the old 
Roman pace is five. Now which kind are we up 
against? ” 

“ That’s easy,” replied CarroU. “ When we find 


THE EXPEDITION STARTS 139 


the cross we can run a line southwest for three 
hundred and twenty paces of 2J feet each, which 
would be — let me see,” and he made a hurried 
calculation on the back of an envelope, “ seven 
hundred feet, pretty near an eighth of a mile. 
If we don’t hit the rock then, we can go on till 
we have carried the line 320 paces of three feet 
each, which would be 960 feet, about a fifth of a 
mile from the cross.” 

“ I see,” eagerly burst in Sumner, “ and if we 
don’t find the tilting rock then, why, run out the 
line till we make 320 paces of five feet each, and 
then we’ll surely hit it. Now isn’t that dead 
easy? ” 

“ Just as easy as rolling off a log. Sum.” Car- 
roll’s voice showed a trace of mild irony, but 
Stunner in his enthusiasm failed to catch it. 

“ Do you know what those islands in Penob- 
scot Bay are like, some of ’em? ” asked Val. 
“Now I’ve been on Whale Island, as you know, 
and the part I saw is a wilderness of trees, rocks 
and bushes. You fellows talk as though you were 
drawing lines on top of a drafting board. If we 
find that cross, you’ll see that our difficulties 
are only beginning.” 

“ Just the same we can have a dandy good 
time on the trip, if we don’t find the cross, or the 
tilting rock, or the box,” Sumner declared. “We 
don’t want to stay at home all summer, and this 
gives us a good excuse to go somewhere. We can 


140 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


land on the island and make a camp, and have a 
great time; every night we’ll gather ’rotmd the 
camp-fire and trnie up the mandolins and banjo; 
have shore dinners every day — but all the same,” 
he broke off from his imaginative strain — “ we’ll 
find that cross, and the box imder the tilting 
rock. You just bet your boots we will! ” 

At this instant the conversation was inter- 
rupted by the soimd of a chime whistle, and 
around the end of the wharf the “ Screamer ” 
appeared and ran swiftly in to her berth. 

“ Is that the motor-boat you are talking about? ” 
cried Sumner in rapture. “ Lordy, isn’t she a 
peach! ” 

And she was. As she came toward them the hull 
glistened with fresh white paint, while all her 
brass work, from the searchlight to the smallest 
deck cleat, shone brightly. She was what is called 
a raised-deck cruiser, thirty-five feet long over all, 
eight feet beam. Her sheer, sharp stem cut 
daintily through the water. Captain Roderick 
was at her wheel, and beside him, seated in willow 
chairs in the cockpit, were two other men. 

Deftly, but without apparent effort, the captain 
reversed the engine from where he sat at the 
steering wheel, and as the “ Screamer ” rounded 
to gracefully and came alongside her float and 
stopped, he shut off the power. 

“ ‘ Screamer ’ ahoy! Give us yoiir line! ” called 
Val in a merry tone, as the three ran down the 


THE EXPEDITION STARTS 141 


steps to the float. Captain Roderick looked care- 
worn and tired, but his face lighted instantly 
when he saw the boys. He flung out the bowline, 
which was instantly made fast, and the occupants 
of the motor-boat debarked, the insurance men 
going up on the wharf, while the captain lingered. 
His voice choked a little as he greeted the trio. 

“ Well, boys,” he cried, trying to shake the 
hands of all three at the same time, “ the things 
I’d like to say to you are too deep down in my 
heart. They won’t come out. Oh, you all did 
finely last night — but there, you didn’t come 
down to hear me say that. You came to see the 
‘ Screamer ’ — well, here she is, and ain’t she 
a corker? She just came down from Boston last 
week, and she’s a mighty able boat, comfortable, 
too, and for speed — well, I guess she can lay 
’em all out, that is, everything in her class! ” 

“ She certainly does look good to me,” said 
Val, gazing with approval at the handsome lines 
of the motor-boat. “ Have you ever gone up 
against Rad Conway’s ‘ Ginger ’ with her yet? ” 

” She’s got the ‘ Ginger ’ skun! ” declared the 
Captain, in vigorous if inelegant language. “ Skun 
to death! ” 

“ Can we go on her? ” queried Sumner, anx- 
iously. 

“ Can you? — why sure, that’s what you’re here 
for, ain’t it? ” the Captain laughed. “ Now look 
here, boys: I’ve got to give those two insurance 


142 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


men more of my time yet. Here’s the ‘ Screamer * 
— you just get aboard and take her out for an 
hour.” 

“ Do you mean it, Captain? ” cried Val, de- 
lightedly, as the three boys followed the Captain 
on board of his boat. 

“ Of course I mean it! You can run a gasoline 
engine, some of you, can’t you? Why, of course 
you can,” as Val and Carroll both nodded. “ The 
gasoline’s turned on, so all you’ve got to do is 
let go her bowline, cut in the batteries, give the 
flywheel half a turn, and she’ll go off like clock- 
work. Then switch over to the magneto. 

“ I’m sorry, but I can’t stop to show you over 
her — you can do that yourselves ; but here’s 
her steering wheel, right handy in the cockpit. 
Here’s the throttle control, and the clutch for 
throwing your engine into gear and for reversing 
the propeller, all handy so you don’t have to 
leave the wheel to reach ’em. When this clutch 
lever is forward — so — she goes ahead ; when 
it’s on the center, this way, the engine is cut off 
from the propeller shaft and she stands still; 
when it’s pulled back like this she goes astern. 

“ There, now, you can all build one just like 
her,” he laughed in great good humor. “ Just 
make yourselves at home, look her over, try her 
out, and get back here at five o’clock, and we’ll 
have a talk about cruising.” And the captain 
jumped down to the float, hurried up the stairs 


THE EXPEDITION STARTS 143 


to the wharf and vanished in the steamboat 
company’s office. 

“ Did you flag all that.? ” Sumner asked, as he 
looked about the “ Screamer ” with puzzled but 
delighted eyes. 

‘‘ Didn’t have to; knew it before,” vouch- 
safed Carroll as he stepped down into the engine 
room, followed by his companions. 

It would be hard to say which pleased the boys 
most, the outside or the inside of the “Screamer.” 
Outside, her decks were laid fore and aft in narrow 
strips of solid mahogany; a twelve-foot tender 
lay in its chocks on top of the cabin, with davits 
turned inboard; the sides of the tnmk cabin, 
above the deck, were of white oak, as was the 
coaming around the cockpit, but all the other 
exposed outside woodwork was of mahogany. At 
the back of the cozy cockpit — which was pro- 
vided with scuppers so that it would be self- 
bailing in case water came aboard — was a broad, 
cushioned seat, running crosswise, with a most 
comfortable-looking back — what is termed a 
“ lazy-back.” Beside this seat there were a few 
willow arm chairs, in the cockpit, and the high 
seat, with a back, in which the steersman could 
sit while on duty. An ample awning, which could 
be taken down and stowed away in a few 
moments, covered the cockpit and the after por- 
tion of the cabin. 

But the interior was even more interesting. 


144 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


The short flight of steps, or companionway, led 
down into an apartment that was both engine- 
room and galley. The engine, which lay well 
back imder the floor of the cockpit — and could 
be reached from it by lifting a water-tight trap 
in the floor — was readily accessible from the 
engine-room. 

On the left of the engine was the galley-, with 
a blue-flame stove, cupboard, sink, hinged table, 
and lockers. Aft, imder the cockpit, was an 
ample ice-chest, and plenty of room to store pro- 
visions. To the right of the companion was the 
wash-room. 

Passing forward through a doorway one entered 
the cabin proper, which was finished in mahogany 
and white enamel. Broad transoms or seats, 
with lockers underneath, occupied the space 
along the sides, affording sleeping accommoda- 
tion for four persons; and forward of this was 
the forecastle, a tiny space containing a double 
berth running crosswise of the boat. Ten large 
portholes and a skylight over the engine-room 
lighted the interior, while a ventilator on the for- 
ward deck helped to keep the air sweet and fresh. 

“ What’s she got for an engine? ” Val inquired 
of Carroll, who was bending over the machinery 
after a brief inspection had been made of the rest 
of the cruiser. 

“It’s a three-cylinder, two-cycle ‘ Hustler,’ ” 
was the reply. 


THE EXPEDITION STARTS 145 


“ Let’s go ahead and make her ‘ hustle,’ then. 
What do you say, boys, to running over to the 
‘ Spitfire ’ and getting the taffrail log, and speed- 
ing this little lady down to the ruins of the ‘ Bay 
Queen ’ and back? We can do it easy by five 
o’clock if she’s as fast as the Captain says.” 

Cal and Sumner instantly agreed to this pro- 
gram. Sumner climbed down to the float, let 
go the bowline, and shoved the “ Screamer’s ” 
bow off. By this time Cal had the motor started, 
and, when the boat had swung aroimd so that 
she headed toward the outer end of the dock, 
Val threw in the clutch. As Sumner scrambled 
in over the stern the “ Screamer ” got imder 
way, and when she cleared the pier-head Val 
headed out to the “ Spitfire’s ” anchorage, and 
tuned up the speed controller so that the motor- 
boat began to show her best paces. In a very 
few minutes they stopped alongside the sloop and 
Val went on board and secured the log. 

This was a contrivance for showing the dis- 
tance travelled by a vessel. It consisted of a 
brass box with a glass window in which showed 
a series of dials reminding one of a gas meter, or a 
cyclometer. This box was attached to the after 
rail, and the mechanism it contained was operated 
by a hollow brass screw or rotator, on the end of 
a closely- woven cord, which trailed in the water 
astern as the boat progressed. The screw by 
being dragged through the water was forced to 


146 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


revolve. This in turn twisted the line, and the 
line being attached to the mechanism of the brass 
box, made the dials register the distance trav- 
elled. 

“ Now we’re off again,” exclaimed Sumner, 
seating himself comfortably in one of the cockpit 
chairs. Val fastened the log to a cleat on the 
“ Screamer’s ” overhang, and threw the rotator 
overboard, and as the boat went ahead again, 
the line began to twist and the dials to record 
distance. 

” It’s just four-fifteen by the best watch on 
board,” grinned Sumner as he consulted his 
timepiece. “ Now let her out! I wish we could 
run up against Rad Conway and the ‘ Ginger,’ ” 
he sighed, regretfully. 

“ You’d better wait till we get the hang of the 
engine a little before you begin to talk of racing, ’ ’ 
said Carroll, emerging from the engine-room at this 
moment. 

“ Say, but she runs fine, don’t she, old man?” 
remarked Val. 

“ Just as sweet and clean and true as they can 
possibly make ’em,” was the enthusiastic reply. 

Do you hear that exhaust? She never misses 
a charge, and vibration — why you’d think she 
ran on springs, there’s so little of it! ” 

“If we can get the Captain to let us take this 
boat for our Whale Island expedition we’ll be 
made,” remarked Val, as he headed the 


THE EXPEDITION STARTS 147 


“ Screamer ” a trifle to starboard to shave the 
buoy off “ Bug ” light at the entrance to the inner 
harbor. 

A few moments later they roimded the end 
of the breakwater and went spinning down the 
ship channel in hot pursuit of a schooner-yacht 
that was getting to sea under her own sail before 
a fair westerly breeze. 

“ Penelope, New York,” Cal read on the schoon- 
er’s stem as they rapidly overhauled her. “Now 
that’s what I call fim,” he exclaimed, waving a 
hand at the yacht. “ Go off for a three months’ 
cmise alongshore in a craft like that — she’s 
ninety feet long if she’s an inch, so there’s lots 
of room — have a captain and crew to do all the 
work, put in where you please, sail when you get 
ready, and take along all the friends you can find 
to go.” 

The “ Screamer ” was now abreast of the “ Pe- 
nelope’s ” quarter, and the boys viewed her well- 
kept decks and fittings with much interest. Be- 
sides a seaman at the wheel there were two other 
men in the after-deck. One of them, short of 
stature and somewhat inclined to be stout, was 
clad in clothes of a decidedly loud and sporty 
pattern. His attention was arrested by the motor- 
boat as she ranged alongside, and when his eyes 
caught the name on her bow he ran to the rail. 

“ Isn’t he a dead-game sport? ” laughed Sum- 


ner. 


148 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“ If he owns the schooner I can tell pretty well 
what kind of a crowd sails in her,” remarked Val, 
somewhat contemptuously. 

“ Halloo, there! ” bawled the man in the loud 
clothing. ” Come a little closer, will you? ” 

“ Say, Mr. Sport is hollering to us,” said Carroll. 

What do you s’pose he wants? ” 

” Give it up,” said Val, twisting the steering 
wheel a trifle to port and bringing the ” Screamer ” 
in toward the schooner, while at the same time 
he slowed down to the pace of the other vessel. 
“ But if he wants to talk I guess we can accom- 
modate him.” 

“ Where’d you get that boat? ” asked the fel- 
low at the ” Penelope’s ” rail in a lower tone, for 
the two craft were now not more than twenty- 
five feet apart. 

“ She belongs to Captain James Roderick of 
Stroudport,” Val called back with what courtesy 
he could muster, for his interrogator’s manner 
was rather offensive. 

” Belongs to who? ” cried the other, again 
raising his voice. 

Val repeated his statement. 

” Not much she don’t! ” was the surprising 
retort of the fellow in the sporty clothing. '‘ She 
belongs to — ” 

But at this instant the young fellow’s com- 
panion, a tall, dark-complexioned chap, who had 
been standing a short distance away during the 


THE EXPEDITION STARTS 149 


beginning of the colloquy, seized him rather 
forcibly from behind and twisted him suddenly 
aroimd so that the name he uttered did not 
reach the ears of the boys. 

Then the pair on the schooner engaged for a 
few moments in loud but unintelligible conver- 
sation. 

“ What were you going to say.^ ” called Carroll; 
but the yoimg man who had caused the inter- 
ruption turned and waved him off. 

“ Nothing! It’s a mistake! Go ahead! ” 

“ It’s not a mistake! ” cried his companion of 
the loud clothes, adding some unpleasant words 
which we will not repeat. “ I tell you that boat 
belongs — ” 

“You shut up, you confounded fool! ” the other 
cried, and turning once more to the “ Screamer: ” 
“ Go ahead. That’s all we want! ” 

But Val had already pushed the speed controller 
over and the motor-boat was drawing rapidly 
past the “ Penelope.” However, for several 
minutes after this brief but odd conversation the 
boys could see the two on the schooner’s quarter 
gazing after them and talking earnestly, while the 
one in loud garments gesticulated vigorously. 

“ Well, what do you make of that? ” asked 
Carroll, curiously. “ That young fellow seemed 
to think you were lying to him.” 

“ Oh, he’s just mistaken, that’s all,” was Val’s 
careless reply. 


150 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“ He probably thinks this is some other boat,” 
Sumner ventured, and for the time being the 
incident passed out of their thoughts. 

Val laid a course straight for the southern 
end of Jackson Island, and with her motor doing 
its best the “ Screamer ” ploughed rapidly along, 
while every minute the trio on board became more 
and more captivated with her. 

“ There’s what’s left of the ‘ Bay Queen,’ ” 
exclaimed Val, as they rounded the island and 
came in view of the scene of the previous night’s 
catastrophe. As the News had stated, the fireboat 
had saved the hull from destruction, and a portion 
of her afterworks were standing, while the upright 
boiler, which had caused all the trouble, showed 
itself amidships above the rail. She was a mel- 
ancholy sight as the boys ran alongside. The 
underwriters having finished their inspection, a 
tug was just taking her in tow. 

“ What does the log say and what does the 
watch say.^ ” demanded Val, as the “ Screamer ” 
stopped not far from the ruined steamer. “ We 
lost a little time talking with those fellows on 
the schooner; but we’ll do better going back, I’m 
thinking.” 

“We’ve come just two and a half — what is 
it, miles or knots? — in fifteen minutes,” Sumner 
replied after reading the log and inspecting the 
reliable timepiece he carried. 

“That registers knots — geographical miles,” 


THE EXPEDITION STARTS 151 


said Carroll. “ Hm! Ten knots an hour isn’t 
bad, fellows; that’s pretty near twelve miles. 
I’ll bet she can beat it, though! ” 

“ Let’s see her do it, then,” cried Val. “ We’U 
run from here to the buoy on the north end of 
Jackson, make a straight course from there to 
Bug Light, and from there to the wharf — that’s 
about three knots, for a guess.” 

After a brief inspection of the “ Bay Queen,” 
the motor-boat got under way for her record run 
back to the city. With Carroll tuning up the 
engine and Val at the wheel, while Sumner made 
himself comfortable wherever it suited his mood, 
the comse suggested by the steersman was fol- 
lowed at the highest possible speed. As they 
rounded the end of Stevens wharf Sumner pulled 
in the logline and read the registration of the dials. 

“Just three knots,” he announced; and then 
pulling out his watch: “ in just fifteen minutes.” 

“ Twelve knots an hour. Cal,” called Val to the 
engineer. “ Fourteen miles in sixty minutes! 
The ‘ Ginger ’ will have to be going some to keep 
even within smelling distance.” 

They made the “ Screamer ” fast to her float 
just as Captain Roderick emerged from the steam- 
boat company office and came down to the 
water. 

“ How’d you like her, boys? ” he asked. 

“ She’s a crackerjack! What 11 you charge to 
let us take her for a cruise? ” 


152 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“ Where are you going and how long? ” 

“ Down to Penobscot Bay for maybe a month.” 
“You can have her for nothing,” was the sur- 
prising declaration, “ unless — ” 

“ We don’t want her on any such terms. Cap- 
tain,” Val declared. “We’d rather pay — ” 

“ — Unless,” went on the Captain evenly, with- 
out noticing the interruption, “ unless Mr. Sidney 
Manning shows up here before five o’clock with a 
certain sum of money in his fist and buys her.” 

“ Who is Sidney Manning ? ” asked Val. 

“ He’s a rich bug who’s spending the summer 
down the harbor somewhere — Harpsboro, I 
think. I gave him a refusal of her for one week. 
That refusal expires at five o’clock to-night, and 
if he don’t show up here before then with the 
cash, you boys can take her for your cruise and 
welcome. 

“ Now look here,” he rejoined with some 
warmth, as Val continued his protest against 
taking the “ Screamer ” without paying rental, 
“ you fellows know I won’t offer you money for 
what you did for me last night when the ‘ Bay 
Queen ’ burned. Then why can’t you be decent 
and let me lend you my boat ? You make me tired ! 
If this Mr. Manning doesn’t show up — and I 
guess he won’t all right, for it’s getting late — 
you just take the ‘ Screamer,’ treat her as you 
would like to have anyone use your own boat, 
and bring her back when you get done with her. 


THE EXPEDITION STARTS 153 


“You fellows are the only ones I would trust 
her with out of my sight,” he declared, “but 
you’ve got pluck and courage, and I’ll be willing 
to bet if you get into any tight places you can 
get out again! ” 

“ What do you say, fellows? ” Val turned to 
Carroll and Sumner, who were very interested 
listeners. 

“ I say that Captain Roderick is a trump! ” 
cried Sumner. 

“ That means you take her,” declared the Cap- 
tain, “ unless — ” 

At this moment came the sound of hurried foot- 
steps on the planking of the wharf. 

“ Halloo, Captain Roderick! Are you there? ” 
called a masculine voice, somewhat out of breath. 

The four turned to see a well-dressed man de- 
scending the steps to the float. He was in very 
much of a hurry, and, as he came, pulled out his 
pocket-book, and extracted therefrom a roll of 
bills. 

“ I remembered what you said about being 
prompt if I was to do business with you. Captain,” 
he remarked, coming up to that person, and hold- 
ing out the money. “ Here’s the cash, and I’ll 
take the ‘ Screamer ’! ” 

“All right, Mr. Manning,” replied Captain 
Roderick, in a curious sort of grumble, “ but if 
you’d been a minute later you’d have been too 
late altogether.” 


154 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


It was a keen disappointment for the three boys, 
and they did not talk much as they walked back 
uptown and separated for the night. That eve- 
ning Sumner wrote a long letter to Jim Hilton. 
Among other things it contained the following: 

“You’d better leave that cat at home, Jim. 
Cats are no earthly use on a yacht — they’re 
always falling overboard and yowling. And the 
flywheel hasn’t any diameter, or any revolutions, 
either, because after all we are going on the ‘ Spit- 
fire.’ ” 

Heeling over under a keen northwest wind the 
sloop-yacht “ Spitfire,” with mainsail, jib and 
jib-topsail set, was heading down the ship channel 
out past Robertson’s cove and Jackson Island 
toward the open sea. On board were four young 
men: Val Brandon, owner and captain of the 
jaunty craft; Carroll Morse, the mate; Sumner 
Parker, able seaman and member of the captain’s 
watch; and James — otherwise “ Jim ” — Hilton, 
of Burlington, Vermont, more or less able seaman, 
and member of the port watch under the mate. 

Crowding every locker and each available nook 
and corner of the yacht were provisions of various 
kinds, canned and fresh, clothing, bedding, camp 
paraphernalia, two mandolins and a banjo, and 
a shovel and crowbar. In addition to all these was 
a wooden chest belonging to Jim, which he 
positively refused to leave behind. It was of 


THE EXPEDITION STARTS 155 


wood, varnished, and on the lid were painted the 
words “ The Kit.” Jim kept it locked and would 
not divulge the nature of its contents. 

“You just wait and see,” he replied to all in- 
quiries. 

It was about eight o’clock on the Tuesday 
morning following the day that Val, Cal and 
Sumner had tried out the “ Screamer,” and re- 
ceived a disappointment that even now they hated 
to talk about. And it is needless to explain that 
this was the expedition to Whale Island to find 
the cross on the eastern shore, to run a line from 
it to the tilting rock, to tip up that rock and find 
the box beneath. 

It had required a good deal of persuasion on 
the boys’ part to get their parents’ consent to 
such a trip. Strange to relate, none of their 
respective fathers and mothers seemed to place as 
much confidence in or had as much enthusiasm 
over the translation of the ciphers as they them- 
selves. The difficulties confronting the search 
seemed pretty grave; besides, what if the boys 
ran into another gang of ruffians such as they had 
on the previous summer? But it was Captain 
Bucklin who finally turned the tide in their favor. 

“ How do you expect the boys to learn to swim 
if they never go near the water? ” he demanded, 
speaking figuratively. “ If they are going to 
learn self-reliance and develop their courage and 
muscle they’ve got to go out in the world where 


156 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


they’ll have to depend on themselves, haven’t 
they ? Why, certainly ! 

“ Now that cipher business may not be worth 
the powder to blow it up, but let ’em go and 
find out for themselves,” he urged. “They’ll 
never be satisfied until they do, and if they don’t 
turn up in a reasonable time, why, we’ll just take 
the old ‘ Storm King ’ and go take a look for 
’em! ” 

That settled it, and the “ Spitfire ” was at last 
underway for Penobscot Bay. The regulations 
provided that the two watches should sail her 
on alternate days; on the day the starboard 
watch sailed the yacht and kept things trim on 
deck, the port watch should do the cooking and 
keep matters tidy below. The next day the 
watches would change about. Thus the captain 
would be in charge of the sailing one day, and the 
mate the next; but in an emergency everyone 
might be called upon to help, and, of coiu*se, 
at aU times the authority of the captain out- 
ranked that of the mate, even when the latter 
was in charge of the deck, if the captain thought 
him to be in the wrong. 

As has been stated, the “ Spitfire ” was thirty- 
five feet over all, and carried four sails — main, 
jib, gaff-topsail and jib topsail. She could easily 
accommodate four in her cabin, and was one of the 
trimmest and fastest boats of her class that be- 
longed to the Stroudport Yacht Club. When they 


THE EXPEDITION STARTS 157 


started on that memorable cruise of the year 
before the boys had thought that her accommo- 
dations and equipment left nothing to be desired ; 
but this year Val had made several improvements 
that rendered the yacht much better for cruising, 
the principal one being to extend the cabin trunk 
three feet further back into the cockpit, thus 
obtaining room for a washroom on the starboard 
side, and a galley, with blue-flame oil stove, 
hinged table, cupboard, and a small sink, on the 
port side, just inside the companion. This ex- 
tension of the cabin of course curtailed the stand- 
ing-room, but as this had been more than ample 
before, the shortening was not very appreciable. 

The start had been auspicious. Everyone was 
in a happy mood. Monday had been hot and 
showery — a sticky, “muggy” day, which had 
closed with a series of violent thunder-showers 
in the evening. Tuesday morning dawned bright 
and fair, with a brisk northwest wind chasing 
away the humid stickiness, and starting from 
their anchorage a number of coasting craft that 
had been waiting in Stroudport harbor for a fair 
wind. 

It also had the effect of sending out a party in a 
trim looking motor-boat which came puffing out 
of Robertson’s cove just as the “ Spitfire ” passed 
the eastern point. There was a young man at the 
wheel forward, another at the engine, and dis- 
tributed about in various places were several 


158 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


ladies. As she cleared the entrance of the cove 
the launch turned down channel in pursuit of the 
sloop. 

“ A race, boys! ” cried Sumner, enthusiastically. 
“ Here comes a motor-boat! Hi, Captain Bran- 
don, what say we crack on all sail and give ’em 
a run for their money? ” 

Val glanced astern and caught the name on 
the motor-boat’s bow, though she was still some 
distance away. 

“ That’s the ‘ Ginger,’ ” he laughed. “ She’d 
lick us right out of our boots.” 

“ I’ll bet she can’t,” cried Carroll. “ Come now, 
where’s your sporting blood? I’ll bet you the 
‘ Spitfire ’ can keep her guessing a good while! ” 

“ All right, boys,” agreed Val, catching the 
spirit of the thing, “ if you want to see what the 
old girl can do; but you must remember she’s 
pulling a rowboat, too. 

“ Break out that topsail from the sail-locker, 
Sum,” he at once ordered. The other member of 
the starboard watch obeyed, and, despite the 
strong wind, they succeeded in setting it in short 
order. The boys had thought the yacht was walk- 
ing along before, but now she seemed to fairly 
fly. With every stitch of her canvas drawing, 
the “ Spitfire ” sped on like a thing of life. She 
had always proved herself a fast sailer on a beat 
to windward, but now she was running free, and 
it seemed to Sumner and Carroll that she was 


THE EXPEDITION STARTS 159 


making as fast time as had the “ Screamer ” over 
the same groimd a few days previously. 

But Val, although he said nothing, knew better; 
though the “ Ginger ” did not seem to be more 
than holding her own at the present moment, he 
had been told she had made twelve miles an hour 
over a measured course, while such speed from 
the sloop could only be obtained under excep- 
tional weather conditions. And now Rad Conway 
and his party caught the racing spirit, and took 
up the gaimtlet that the “ Spitfire ” had thrown 
down. Since the setting of the top-sail she had 
drawn no nearer, but the boys could see Rad 
bending over the engine, adjusting first this and 
then that part of the mechanism, so that pres- 
ently, with her machinery tuned up and working 
to its highest capacity, slowly the “ Ginger ” 
gained on her adversary. Nearer and nearer 
she came, while Sumner called on all the winds 
of heaven to help, and groaned in mock anguish. 

Down past Jackson Island, — past Cushman 
Island on the left hand and the rocky shore of 
Cape Eastern to starboard, on they went, the 
“ Spitfire ” looking like nothing more than a 
huge white-winged bird skimming before the 
wind; while her adversary, with none of the 
sloop’s grace and poetry of motion, impelled by 
what Jim contemptuously termed “ nothing but 
a heap o’ junk,” crept up and crept up, till at 
last she worked her way abreast and not fifty 


160 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


feet away. And then she began slowly but 
surely to draw away from the “ Spitfire ” — 
slowly but surely the superiority of machinery 
over sail power evinced itself. Then and not till 
then did Rad Conway utter a word to those with 
whom he was contesting ; but now, when the stern 
of his trim boat had drawn well forward of the 
jib-boom of the flying yacht, he waved his hand 
to the quartette on the yacht. 

“ Give us your bowline, fellows,” he shouted, 
through a megaphone; “give us your bowline, 
and we’ll take you in tow! ” And then, having 
demonstrated the speed of his boat to his own 
and his guests’ satisfaction. Rad sent the “ Gin- 
ger ” around in a broad curve and she headed 
back up the channel. 

“ Now wouldn’t that drive a man to drink,” 
gritted Sumner. “ Next time we meet Rad 
Conway I hope to goodness we won’t be towing 
a fifteen-foot boat. Why, we’d have beaten the 
boots right off’n him if it hadn’t been for that 
tender, Jim! ” 

For Sumner had bragged a good deal to Jim 
Hilton of what the “ Spitfire ” could do, and it 
galled him wofully to have her beaten in any 
kind of a race, fair or unfair. 

“ Never mind, Sum, we’re just so much nearer 
Whale Island,” said Carroll, consolingly, . and 
the four settled down once more. 

The topsail was lowered and furled, for it was 


THE EXPEDITION STARTS 161 


really too much sail to carry comfortably imder 
the present weather conditions; and after Cush- 
man Island had been passed and they were abreast 
of the lighthouse on Ram Island Ledge, they 
“ wore ship ” and laid a course about north by 
east. 

“ If this wind holds, boys, we’ll sight Whale 
Island by to-morrow morning this time,” said 
Val, jubilantly. 

They had been running on this course for nearly 
an horn: when the attention of all was attracted by 
the peculiar actions of a motor-boat, which, 
coming from the direction of Broad Sound, of a 
sudden appeared to be in trouble. When first 
observed she was holding a southeasterly course 
that would make her pass the “ Spitfire ” at close 
range, but as the boys watched and commented 
on her probable identity and character, while 
still fully a quarter of a mile to windward she lost 
her headway, swung around, and began to roll 
heavily in the trough of the sea that the stiff 
breeze was kicking up. 

Filled with old-time curiosity Sumner brought 
out the binoculars and focussed them on the 
newcomer. 

“ She’s rolling to beat the cars,” he announced, 
promptly. “ I can see a couple of girls on board 
— can’t see a man anywhere — ” 

“ Oh, the men are all down inside juggling the 
engine,” commented Carroll. 


162 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“ She’s a motor-boat cruiser. She looks like — 
say, fellows, she is the ‘Screamer’!” Sumner 
was now fairly hopping up and down with excite- 
ment. 

“Look! Look!” he cried. “There’s smoke 
coming from her. Head for her quick, Val. 
She’s in trouble! ” 

Val Brandon needed no second bidding. To 
starboard went the helm, the sheets were trimmed 
in, and the yacht began beating swiftly up towards 
the disabled motor-boat. 


CHAPTER X 


MR. MANNING CHANGES HIS MIND 

On board the “ Spitfire ” reigned great ex- 
citement. The curl of smoke issuing from the 

Screamer’s ” companion, which had at first 
been visible only to Sumner through the glasses, 
was now plainly seen by the others, for its volume 
was increasing. 

‘‘There’s a man!” called Sumner, suddenly. 
“ He just ran out of the cabin. His clothes seem 
to be burning, and he’s trying to beat ’em out 
with his hands. Lordy! He’s jumped over- 
board! ” 

” Pull the tender alongside. Sum,” ordered the 
skipper, ” and see that both pairs of oars are in 

her. 

“You take the tiller, Cal,” he continued, “ and 
run the ‘ Spitfire ’ up to windward as close as 
you dare to.” 

Carroll instantly took the captain’s place at 
the helm, and while Sumner was getting the tender 
under the lee quarter Val secured from the cabin 
a tin tube, maybe two feet long and three inches 
163 


164 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


in diameter, on which were painted the words, 
“ Climax Fire Extinguisher.” 

“ I must say that I smiled when Mr. Culberson 
gave me this, but now is the time for it to make 
good,” he remarked. “ It contains powdered 
chemicals. You sprinkle it on the flames, and 
the heat changes the powder to carbonic acid 
gas, which puts the fire out. 

“ Where’s the man now? Still in the water? ” 
This to Jim, who had taken the glasses from 
Sumner. 

“ He’s splashing ’round near the boat, but 
can’t seem to get near enough to catch hold of 
anything. One of the girls is trying to fish him 
out with a boat-hook. Gee ! Look at that smoke ! 
The other girl is waving to us to come on.” 

“ She needn’t wave — we’re coming all right,” 
rejoined Cal, grimly, for by this time the “ Spit- 
fire ” was within a hundred yards of the motor- 
boat. 

“ Now, into the boat with you, Sum, and dig 
for dear life! ” cried Val, and a moment later the 
two were urging the tender in jumps across the 
intervening stretch of water. 

“ We’ll pull the man into the tender, first,” 
decided Val. “ Then you get as close to the 
motor-boat as you can and I’ll jump aboard and 
tackle that fire! ” 

This plan was carried out. Almost as soon as 
it takes to tell it the row-boat was upon the man, 


MANNING CHANGES HIS MIND 165 


who still struggled in the water. He was unable 
to reach the boat-hook held out to him by the 
girl, for the wind drifted the “ Screamer ” away 
from him faster than he could swim, encumbered 
with shoes and other clothing. 

“Now take her alone! ” Val pulled in his oars, 
stepped forward, and leaning down over the bow, 
caught the swimmer by the collar. Then he 
pulled aboard a very wet and exhausted individ- 
ual and deposited him on a seat. 

By this time quite a cloud of smoke was issuing 
from the companionway of the motor-boat. The 
two pretty yoimg ladies, in natty yachting cos- 
tumes, who appeared to be now the sole occupants, 
had gone aft as far as they could get, and were 
hanging on tightly to steady themselves against 
the boat^s rolling. No doubt they were alarmed, 
as well they might be, but they made no foolish 
outcry as they watched the approach of the 
rowboat and the rescue of their companion. 

The moment he had the man safe Val seized the 
fire-extinguisher and stood up in the bow, ready to 
jump. 

“ Will you catch it.^ ” he called to the nearest 
girl, a prepossessing young lady with dark eyes 
and hair, who wore a white yachting suit, and 
he waved the tube toward her. 

She nodded, Val tossed it, and she caught it 
deftly. Then the tender’s bow bumped the 
“ Screamer’s ” starboard quarter. Val jumped, 


166 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


and reached for the brass handrail. The two 
boats rolled toward each other at that instant, 
and he landed on the narrow deck outside 
the coaming, and half fell over into the cock- 
pit. 

“ Is the fire aroimd the engine? ” he inquired 
with a hurried courtesy as he recovered his bal- 
ance; but it was the girl in blue with the light 
hair and blue eyes to whom he found himself 
talking. 

“ Oh, I think so. Dorothy knows,’* she re- 
sponded, nervously. “ There’s so much smoke 
it is hard to tell much about it.” 

Val tinned toward the companion way. To his 
surprise he saw the girl in white bending beside 
it, with one hand shielding her face as best she 
could from the smoke that was issuing from the 
cabin, while the other hand was busily engaged 
in shaking something about inside. 

“ There,” she exclaimed, rising with flushed face 
as Val reached her side, “ I’ve sprinkled all your 
fire extinguisher over the flames, and if you will 
kindly shut the cabin door I guess we can smother 
the thing out.” 

“ WeU, you’re a girl in a thousand,” said Val ad- 
miringly, as he promptly shut the doors and drew 
the slide. “ How did you know the way to work 
that extinguisher? And do you know,” he added 
in alarm, for he had not thought of it before, 
“ that there’s a seventy-five gallon tank of gaso- 


MANNING CHANGES HIS MIND 167 


line up forward, and all sorts of disagreeable 
things will happen if the fire gets to it? ” 

“ Sh! Sh! ” she cautioned. “ Don’t tell Grace; 
she’d be scared to death. I never thought of it, 
for we’ve been trying to get papa out of the water 
almost ever since the fire started, and things 
happened so fast we couldn’t do much thinking.” 

“ You’d better let us put you and your 
friend — ” 

“ I am Dorothy Manning, and this is my sister 
Grace,” broke in the girl in white. 

“ And I am Val Brandon. You’d better let 
us put you on our yacht till we can get things 
straightened out here.” 

“You can take Grace over if she wants to go, 
and papa. Poor papa! I’ll bet he’ll never be 
hired to get on a motor-boat again in all his 
life! But Fm going to stay right here till that 
fire is out, gasoline or no gasoline! ” And Miss 
Dorothy spoke as if she had made up her mind 
fully on that point. 

“ You’re a trump! ” said Val, looking his ad- 
miration for her pluck. He called to Sumner 
who was holding the tender alongside — as closely 
as he could without bumping. The rescued 
gentleman, whom Val at once concluded was 
Mr. Sidney Manning — though in his present 
condition he looked very different from the man 
who had bought the “ Screamer ” a few days 
before — was recovering his breath as fast as he 


168 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


could, and at the same > time regarding the motor- 
boat with great apprehension. 

“ Come ’round to leeward, Sum,” directed Val, 
“ and take off one of these ladies and put her on 
the ‘ Spitfire ’ with Mr. Manning if he wishes to 

go-” 

“ Take ’em all, sir! Take ’em all off ! ” said Mr. 
Manning in decided tones to Sumner. “ That 
boat is likely to blow up at any moment — at 
any moment, I say! ” 

Sumner rowed around to the lee side, and after 
several attempts Miss Grace was successfully de- 
posited in the stem of the tender. Dorothy, 
however, positively refused to leave the motor- 
boat, despite her father’s expostulations. 

“The fire’s out already, papa,” she declared, 
“and I want to know what’s the matter with 
that horrid engine.” 

“ Have your own way then,” he retorted. 
“ Nothing would tempt me to ever set foot on her 
again. Is that your sloop? ” he queried, address- 
ing Val, who replied in the affirmative. 

“ I’ll pay you well, sir, if you can take us back 
to Harpsboro.” 

“ We’ll do it with pleasure,” replied the young 
skipper. “ Put them aboard of the yacht and 
come back as soon as you can. Sum. Tell Cal and 
Jim we’re going to mn for Harpsboro, and if the 
fire’s out here I’ll try to get the engine going and 
sail the ‘ Screamer ’ back too. If the engine won’t 


MANNING CHANGES HIS MIND 169 


work, the ‘ Spitfire ’ will have to take us in 
tow.” 

While this was happening the yacht had been 
standing off and on a short distance to windward, 
and when Carroll saw Sumner rowing towards 
them he promptly brought the sloop into the wind 
and let her drift down to meet him. Sumner 
delivered his passengers and Val’s message and 
went back to the motor-boat. Carroll, however, 
tired of inaction, and not knowing how long it 
might be before the ” Screamer’s ” engine would 
consent to run, decided to begin towing operations 
at once; so he brought the yacht as close along- 
side as he dared, Val went forward and threw him 
the motor-boat’s bowline, and soon the “ Spit- 
fire ” was beating slowly up toward Harpsboro 
with the ” Screamer ” a dead weight astern. 
Sumner, at the steering wheel of the latter, kept 
her properly headed. 

Since Miss Dorothy had sprinkled the fire so 
liberally with the powder from the extinguisher 
and the companion had been closed, not a sound 
had come from the interior. Val made several 
inspections through the skylight, but each time 
reported nothing visible but smoke. 

” I believe it’s safe to open her up and take a 
look,” he announced, presently, and then pushed 
back the companion slide and opened the doors. 
A cloud of smoke, forced out by the wind driving 
in at the ventilator forward, belched into their 


170 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


faces, but it soon thinned, and investigation 
showed that the fire was out. 

“ You make a dandy fireman. Miss Manning,'' 
said Val, with enthusiasm, when this fact was 
ascertained. 

“ Pshaw! " was the deprecatory reply. I 
don’t believe there was much of a fire after 
all." 

Val entered the cabin, opened all the side ports, 
raised the skylight, and the last vestiges of smoke 
quickly disappeared. 

“ Now will you walk into my parlor? " he in- 
quired, smiling up at Miss Dorothy, who was 
gazing in at the companion way, “or do you 
think it’s too sooty for white suits? ’’ 

She evidently didn’t think so, for she promptly 
descended the steps and looked on with much 
interest while Val inspected the scene of the fire 
and the dead engine. The interior of the boat, 
save for the effects of the smoke, was not dam- 
aged. The engine was set in a galvanized iron 
drip pan, and in this they discovered the smoul- 
dering remnants of a package of cotton waste. 

“ There’s all that’s left of the fire," said Val. 
“ Cotton waste and oil and gasoline made all the 
trouble, but I don’t see how it caught in the first 
place. Do you know? ’’ 

“ Why yes; it was papa’s cigar," and Dorothy 
sat down on a stool and watched Val as he tin- 
kered the machinery. 


MANNING CHANGES HIS MIND 171 


“ You tell papa for me that he doesn’t want to 
do any smoking ’round a gasoline engine.” 

“I’m sure he never will again,” was the earnest 
reply. “You see, everything was nmning all 
right. Oh, it was lovely! When papa brought 
the ‘ Screamer ’ home last week I was crazy to 
go right off on a cruise, for what’s the use of a 
cruiser if you don’t go cruising? ” 

“ That’s right, too,” murmured Val, who was 
taking a look at the carburetor, which seemed to 
be a likely seat of trouble. 

“ But mamma wouldn’t stir a step. However, 
I got papa and Grace worked up to the right 
pitch at last ; so last night we got up a great old 
lunch — say, you don’t feel hungry, do you, be- 
cause that ice-chest is full of — ” 

“ Full of smoked sandwiches?” queried Val, 
laughing. 

“ My goodness! ” Miss Manning jumped up 
and opened the ice-chest door. “ They are not 
smoked, even a little bit,” she declared in a tone 
of relief, after sniffing vigorously and examining 
some of the eatables. 

“ That’s because you’re such an expert fire- 
man, and laid that extinguisher on so thick.” 

“ If you mention that again I shall know you 
think I was wasteful, and should only have put 
on a spoonful at a time.” 

“No, I brought that tube along on purpose 
for this fire,” declared Val, who had finished with 


172 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


the carburetor and was overhauling the wiring. 
“ Well, what happened? ” 

“ I was steering, and just about the time we 
saw your sail-boat the old engine stopped. Now 
papa is great in a sail-boat, but he knows just 
as much about a gasoline engine as a fly. How- 
ever, he was plucky, and started in to fix it. I 
don’t know just what he did, and he didn’t 
have time to tell us, but he was bending over 
that thing you were just looking at, the car — , 
car — ” 

“ Carburetor? ” 

“ Yes, that’s the name; and he said, ‘ I guess 
there must be some dirt or water in the gasoline, 
so I’ll just open up here; ’ and he opened up, and 
the gasoline squirted out on his clothes. He 
jumped back, and his cigar dropped out of his 
mouth. Biff! Bang! There was an explosion, 
and papa fell over backwards on the floor, and 
I was looking in at the door and I ’most fell over 
backwards out there too. 

“ The oil and stuff in that pan aroimd the en- 
gine began to burn up, and the gasoline on papa’s 
clothes caught afire, and he rushed out, beating 
himself with his hands. Oh! he was a sight! His 
side-whiskers were nearly ruined, and his eye- 
brows and eyelashes were all frizzled up, and his 
front hair was scorched, and his face was all soot. 
And before we could do anything to help him 
put out the fire on his clothes, he got desperate 


MANNING CHANGES HIS MIND 173 


and jumped into the water — and — and you 
know the rest,” she added simply. 

“ I wanted to do something to put out the fire 
before you got here,” she went on, after a mo- 
ment’s pause, “ but the smoke was so thick we 
weren’t able to get in to find a pail, so we couldn’t 
put any water on it.” 

“ It’s lucky you couldn’t,” Val replied, ear- 
nestly. “ Please don’t ever pour water on a gaso- 
line fire, for the gasoline will just come to the 
top of the water and spread around all the more 
and keep right on burning.” 

“ Yes, but what do I want to do? ” 

‘‘ Why, smother it with a blanket; or if you 
haven’t got a blanket handy, just send for me, 
and I will bring you another tube of fire extin- 
guisher.” 

Dorothy’s eyes sparkled and she laughed 
heartily. 

“ That last is worth remembering,” she said. 

Why, have you got it fixed so soon? ” for Val 
had cranked up, and the engine started off with- 
out any trouble whatever. 

“ Surely; there wasn’t much of anything the 
matter. One of the circulation valves got turned 
off, and the cylinder overheated till the piston 
stuck, and then she stopped.” 

“ I certainly must get a book on ‘ What to do 
when the gasoline engine won’t go,’ ” Dorothy 
declared; “but there, I know well enough that 


174 AN ISLAND SECRET 

papa will sell the ‘ Screamer ’ after all this 
fuss.” 

They went out into the cockpit, and found that 
the motor-boat was rapidly overhauling the “ Spit- 
fire,” so Val went forward and gathered in the 
bowline that Jim had cast off when he saw that 
the engine was again in running order, and in a 
few minutes Sumner, under Val’s direction, 
brought the “ Screamer ” within easy hailing 
distance of the yacht. 

Mr. Manning had donned a spare suit of Car- 
roll’s, and put on a sweater, for the sea-water 
outside of Stroudport Bay has a chill in it even 
in midsummer. 

“ The fire’s out and the engine’s running,” 
called Val to the motor-boat’s owner. “ Will 
you take your boat again, now, Mr. Manning? ” 

The recently rescued one shook his head very 
vigorously, and raised his hands deprecatingly. 

“No, thank you! ” was his decided reply. 
“ If you’ll keep right on to Harpsboro with her 
I’ll make it worth your while.” 

“ Don’t you want to come over here, Grace? ” 
asked Dorothy. 

“ If you don’t mind I’d rather stay here. Dot,” 
returned the girl in blue. “ Mr. Morse is teaching 
me to sail the ‘ Spitfire,’ and it’s too interesting 
to leave.” 

“ I guess that means that our day’s cruise is 
spoiled,” said Dorothy, but with a smile that 


MANNING CHANGES HIS MIND 175 


showed she did not feel very badly about it, after 
all, “ but what in the world is that white stuff that 
papa has got on his hands? ” 

“ He biurned them beating out the fire, didn’t 
he?” 

“ Oh, he must have.” 

“ Then if I was going to guess. I’d say it was 
cooking soda.” 

The two boats drew apart as the “ Screamer ” 
forged slowly ahead of the yacht. Sumner seemed 
to get so much enjoyment out of steering that 
Val left him in possession of the wheel, and, after 
thoroughly oiling up and adjusting the engine, 
joined Miss Dorothy where she was seated in the 
comfortable lazyback at the rear of the cockpit. 

“ Why didn’t you tell me your yacht was named 
the ‘ Spitfire’? ” she demanded, as he sat down 
beside her. 

“ I was just going to,” he retorted, unabashed, 
“ but I don’t see how that interests you.” 

“ Isn’t there a young man in your party 
named Jim Hilton? ” 

“Yes, indeed; do you know him? He’s the 
one with the duck trousers and the red sweater. 
Why, are you from Burlington, too? ” 

“ No, but his sister Madge is stopping next 
door to us at Harpsboro, and she’s told us all 
about her brother Jim, and Sumner Parker and 
Carroll Morse and a certain Mr. Val Brandon, 
and how they are going cruising on the ‘ Spitfire.’ ” 


176 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“ Well, I declare. I don’t believe Jim knows 
she’s there; he said she was down at Southport 
with her cousin. Say, Sum, did you hear that.? ” 
and Val laughed slyly as Sumner turned his head. 
“ Madge Hilton will probably be down to the 
wharf to meet us when we get to Harpsboro,” 
he prevaricated. 

“ Lordy! ” ejaculated Sumner, and he resumed 
his steering, while a flush overspread his face and 
extended back to his ears and up to the roots of 
his hair. 

“ She’s an awfully pretty girl, too, but I don’t 
see why that should make Mr. Parker blush 
so.” 

“You just ask Miss Hilton about it sometime,” 
replied Val, and he couldn’t be cajoled into telling 
her the cause of Sumner’s reddening. 

“ I shall ask her this very day,” declared Doro- 
thy, “ for I intend to bring her right down to the 
wharf to surprise her brother.” 

It is needless to repeat all the merry conversa- 
tion that enlivened the passage of the “Screamer” 
back to Harpsboro. The time passed all too 
quickly for Val, for Miss Dorothy Manning proved 
to be excellent company, and she did not seem 
to find the skipper of the “ Spitfire ” at all dull. 

The motor-boat reached her destination a 
quarter of an hour before the “ Spitfire ” came 
beating up and dropped anchor a short distance 
off the steamer landing. The “ Screamer,” which 


MANNING CHANGES HIS MIND 177 

had been drifting about during the wait, now 
ran alongside. 

“ Mr. Manning has something to say to you, 
Val,” said Carroll as the two boats touched. 

“ I hope Mr. Manning isn’t going to try and pay 
us for bringing him home,” was the quick 
reply. 

“You have saved my life and put me under 
great obligation,” declared that gentleman, with 
much feeling. “ And my daughters and myself 
all thank you; but that wasn’t all I want to say 
to you, Mr. Brandon.” 

The tender which had been towing behind the 
motor-boat was transferred to the sloop, Mr. 
Manning handed his daughter Grace aboard the 
“ Screamer ” and climbed gingerly on himself — 
acting as if he thought another explosion was 
imminent — and Val and Sumner brought the 
craft alongside a landing float in short order. 

“ Ugh! Nothing would tempt me to go out in 
that boat again! ” declared Mr. Manning as he 
stepped to the float, and paused while Val and 
Sumner put the short companion steps in place 
and assisted Dorothy and Grace to debark. “ I 
am a sadder and a wiser man,” said he, with em- 
phasis, “ and what I don’t know about gasoline 
engines would All a large volume. I had no 
idea that gasoline was so highly explosive! And 
how it smells! ” 

“ Oh, you’ll get your nerve back in a little 


178 


AN ISLAND ^ SECRET 

while, papa,” declared Dorothy. “ I think the 
‘ Screamer ’ is just a dandy boat! ” 

“ So she is — for somebody else; but my hands 
are sore yet,” he looked at them ruefully; “ and 
who wants to lose his hair and eyebrows every 
time he goes sailing? 

“ No sir! I’m going to dispose of her at once. 
I was a fool to buy her at all ! What do you think 
of her, Mr. Brandon?” he demanded. “Mr. 
Morse tells me you had some thought of going 
on a cruise in her, but that I got ahead of 
you.” 

“ Oh, she’s all right enough,” said Val, with 
apparent carelessness, but wondering mightily 
what Mr. Manning had in mind. The group still 
stood on the float, for nobody seemed to be in any 
hurry. 

“ I was very much taken with your yacht,” 
admitted the owner of the motor-boat. “ I am 
at home in a sail-boat — I have sailed since I was 
a boy. The way she pointed into the wind on that 
last reach up the sound, say, it was great! And 
the way she comes about, it’s fine! ” 

“ Yes, sir, she’s a crackerjack, and she’s never 
been beaten yet in a fair race with boats of her 
class,” Val rejoined. 

“ Why can’t we swap boats? ” demanded Mr. 
Manning, after a short pause, during which he 
had been looking at the “ Spitfire’s ” fine lines, 
and Val noticed that Carroll and Jim had furled 


MANNING 


NGES HIS MIND 179 


the sails and were putting off in the tender. “ Say, 
you aren’t afraid of gasoline? ” 

“ Perhaps Mr. Brandon has never been blown 
up yet,” suggested Miss Dorothy. “ That makes 
some difference.” 

“ What is your proposition? ” asked Val, as he 
smiled at the last speaker. 

“ The ‘ Screamer ’ was new last year, and the 
builders say' they got twenty-two hundred for 
her. I paid Captain Roderick fifteen hundred for 
her just as she stands. Now what’s yotu: boat 
worth? ” 

“ She was built a year ago last spring for my 
cousin, and I took her off his hands for seventeen 
hundred, all rigged and fitted out. Since then 
I have made some improvements in her, so now 
she stands me about eighteen hundred dollars, 
and she’s just as sound as ever.” 

“ I’ll swap and give you five hundred dollars 
to boot,” cried Mr. Manning instantly. 

The skipper of the “ Spitfire ” looked at the 
speaker in surprise, and at that moment Carroll 
and Jim arrived in the tender. 

“ What do you think, boys,” cried Val. “ Mr. 
Manning wants to swap boats, and will give me 
five hundred to boot.” 

“Is he a philanthropist dying to get rid of 
his money? ” inquired Jim, after acknowledging 
with Carroll an introduction to Miss Dorothy. 
“ If he is, I think I’d give him a chance.” 


180 


AN ISLAND' 


:CRET 


“ What do you say, Cal? ” 

“ Would I swap? ” laughed that youth. “ I’d 
swap so quick you’d think I’d always been 
swapped.” • 

“ Are you willing to change over to the 
‘ Screamer,’ Sum? ” 

“You just try me once,” was the decided reply. 

“ That settles it,” said Val. “ I’ll swap on 
your terms, Mr. Manning; give you the ‘ Spit- 
fire ’ with everything that really belongs to her, 
tender and all, for the ‘ Screamer ’ with her 
tender and all the fittings and furnishings that 
go with her, and five hundred dollars.” 

“ Excepting the lunch,” exclaimed Dorothy. 
“ Goodness, I’d forgotten the lunch. You can’t 
have all of that.” 

“ It’s nearly lunch time now,” said Grace. “ I 
think the easiest way to settle that question is 
for us all to go aboard and eat that lunch right 
up. I’m awfully hungry, and there’s enough for 
a dozen in the ice-chest.” 

So they all went aboard the “ Screamer ” and 
ate up the lunch. 


CHAPTER XI 


THE EXPEDITION PAUSES 

Lunch was scarcely disposed of when Mr. 
Manning insisted upon taking his departure. 

“ I must change my clothes and return these 
to Mr. Morse,” said he, “ and besides that, there 
is a check to be drawn for Mr. Brandon, and we 
ought to draw up bills of sale to exchange with 
each other.” 

Val acquiesced in this suggestion. 

“ Well move our stuff from the yacht at once,” 
said he, “ and leave everything snug, and tie the 
tender here at the float.” 

This was satisfactory to Mr. Manning and he 
departed; but the boys insisted that the girls 
stay aboard the “ Screamer ” while the transfer 
was made, and merrily declared they must not 
allow anything belonging to the Manning family 
to be carried off on the motor-boat if they could 
prevent it. 

The “ Screamer ” ran out alongside the sloop 
again, and, amid a good deal of fun and laughter, 
all the cruising and camp equipment that had 
181 


182 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


been stowed away on the “ Spitfire ” was trans- 
ferred to the other boat. Then everything was 
made snug on the yacht and she was left safely 
anchored, while with much regret the boys said 
good-bye to their old friend, and put back to the 
landing. 

“ And now the next time we meet out sailing it 
will be you who will be getting blown up and afire, 
and we who will hurry to your rescue and fish 
you out of the water,” declared Dorothy. 

“I’d almost be willing to be blown up under 
those conditions,” said Val, gallantly, as he and 
Carroll assisted the ladies to the wharf, leaving 
Jim and Sumner in charge of the motor-boat; 
for the captain had to see about gasoline and cylin- 
der oil, and sundry other supplies, as well as the 
five hundred dollar check and the bills of sale. 
As for Carroll, why, he must go and get the suit 
of clothes he had loaned Mr. Manning, and he 
carried a bimdle containing the garments that 
gentleman had discarded after his mishap. So 
they strolled leisurely up the wharf — Carroll with 
the girl in blue, and Val with the girl in white. 

“ Jim, we simply aren’t in it,” asserted Sumner, 
as they got out some cotton waste and began to 
wipe up the cabin woodwork, and otherwise 
efface the effects of the smoke. “ Our officers 
have captured all the girls in sight and left the 
crew to their lonesomes.” 

“ I guess I can stand it,” Jim laughed. “ I 


THE EXPEDITION PAUSES 183 


came after treasure on this cruise; I don’t have 
to come ’way to Maine after girls, for the house 
is full of ’em when Sis is there. What I am 
wondering is how soon we’ll see that gasoline if 
the officers don’t walk faster than they’re going 
now! ” 

They had scarcely finished the cleaning when 
the steamer “ Mermaid ” whistled for the land- 
ing, and presently tied up a short distance from 
the “ Screamer.” Her decks were filled with 
passengers, and somewhere among them a hand- 
organ was busy, for the strains of “In the Good 
Old Summer Time ” were audible. 

“ I see the musician,” remarked Jim, pres- 
ently, for they had come out into the cockpit to 
look at the steamer and the people. “ He’s got 
^a monkey, too, dancing Tound on the end of a 
string.” 

“ Hey, there! Are you the fellows that want 
this gasoline and oil? ” inquired a voice over their 
heads, and the boys looked up to find that an 
express wagon, in the back of which a blue barrel 
was visible, had driven down the wharf and 
stopped at the head of the steps. On receiving 
an affirmative answer the driver backed his team 
up near the edge, and laid a skid up to the back 
of the wagon on which to roll down the barrel 
of gasoline. Having adjusted this to his satis- 
faction, he tipped the barrel over on its side and 
was about to ease it down the incline when a 


184 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


sudden uproar burst forth on the “ Mermaid’s ” 
upper deck. It began with a feminine shriek, 
which was immediately supplemented by the 
guttural tones of a man whose anger was rising. 

“ Oh, that monkey took my pocket-book! ” 
cried the female voice. “Catch him! Catch that 
monkey! He took my pocket-book! ” 

“ Coma-here you Jock! ” broke out the voice 
of the organ-grinder, angrily. Evidently he 
gave the monkey’s cord a stiff jerk, for there 
was a shrill protest from the animal. And then 
tumult arose, for the cord had broken and the 
monkey was at large. 

Jim and Sumner ran forward to the bow for 
a better view, while the teamster stopped his 
unloading to see what the matter was. But now 
the uproar and confusion on the “ Mermaid ” was 
so great that it was hard to tell just what was 
happening. An object appeared to be skurrying 
about on the upper deck, and various people 
were either grabbing for it or dodging out of its 
way. Soon it reached the rail, climbed down 
the deck supports, and leaped to the wharf. It 
was a small, black-eyed Java monkey; but he 
was not permitted to stay there in peace. The 
commotion among the passengers continued. In 
a moment several people rushed across the gang- 
plank to the wharf, headed by a distracted woman 
and the organ-grinder minus his organ, which 
he had dropped on the deck. 


THE EXPEDITION PAUSES 185 


For the instant the monkey was disconcerted, 
but when the woman made a reach for him he 
regained his wits and went loping up the wharf. 
Everybody that was able to do so immediately 
started in pursuit. 

“ Stop him! Stop him! ” cried the woman, 
seeing the team and the driver just ahead. “ That 
monkey’s got my pocket-book! ” 

“ Monkeys are a little out of my line,” re- 
marked the man, with a grin, “ but I always try 
to oblige the ladies.” And he made an attempt 
to head off the animal ; but the monkey was more 
afraid of the outcry in the rear than he was of 
the man ahead. He eluded the outstretched 
hands, dodged between the man’s legs, and 
skurried up into the wagon, where he crouched 
under the seat. 

“ Ha! Would you hide, you heathen? ” cried 
the teamster, reaching into the wagon. 

But the monkey decided not to hide. Slipping 
out from imder the seat, he gave a leap and landed 
fairly on the horse’s back. That animal, being 
possessed of more spirit than sometimes falls to 
the portion of a delivery-wagon horse, gave a 
snort and a tremendous jump, and galloped away 
up the wharf with the driverless wagon behind 
and the monkey clinging for dear life to the 
harness. 

When the wagon started the skid fell down 
and the barrel of gasoline went down on top of it. 


186 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


Bumpety-bump down the steps went the barrel, 
and rolled swiftly across the float. Narrowly 
missing the stern of the “ Screamer ” and the 
boys who were hurrying to the scene of the dis- 
turbance, it splashed into the water and dis- 
appeared. 

“ Good gosh! ” cried Jim. “ Get the boat- 
hook, Sum! There goes ten dollars’ worth of 
gasoline! You can get it easy enough, can’t 
you? Of course you can. I’m going to see 
what becomes of that monkey! ” And he ran 
up the steps and joined the procession that was 
streaming shoreward. 

“ Isn’t that the limit? ” grumbled Sumner, as 
he secured a boat-hook from the “ Screamer ” 
and proceeded to fish for the gasoline. And in 
his haste and the excitement of the moment, 
for he, too, wanted to see what became of the 
monkey, Sumner overreached himself and went 
in head-first, ker-souse! 

“ Just wait till I get hold of that Jim Hilton,” 
he sputtered as he came to the surface and blew 
the water from his nose and mouth. But he 
found the barrel of gasoline, which, after all, was 
the object of his search; for, much to his surprise, 
it came to the top and floated. 

Jim Hilton’s active legs soon carried him to the 
head of the crowd that was chasing the monkey, 
but he couldn’t catch the galloping horse. The 
leaders of the procession consisted of the woman 


THE EXPEDITION PAUSES 187 


who had lost the pocket-book, the organ-grinder, 
and the teamster, and they were hurrying along 
at top speed. 

As for the monkey, he soon became very dis- 
satisfied with his position on the horse. After 
clinging there till the team reached the head of 
the wharf, he made a flying leap for safety with- 
out really looking where he was going to land. 
The result was that he disembarked at a fruit, 
confectionery and small-wares store which had 
a cormter opening on the narrow sidewalk. The 
proprietor of this emporium was an enterprising 
young man who carried several lines of goods for 
the summer trade; among them being ice-cold 
lemonade contained in a huge punch-bowl that 
occupied the center of the counter, the surface 
alluringly bedecked with slices of lemon. He also 
kept confectionery, and had a big stand of sou- 
venir post-cards. 

For the storekeeper everything happened at 
once, just as things do in a railway collision. The 
monkey leaped from the horse, and landed with 
a great splash squarely in the punch-bowl. A 
tidal wave of lemonade seemed to sweep the 
coimter, while the monkey, still dissatisfied with 
his situation, scrambled out of the bowl, dodged 
a vicious clip from the storekeeper — thus over- 
turning and scattering the stand of post-cards — 
and scurried up the street into the village. With 
wrath in his heart, the proprietor seized the first 


188 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


object within reach. It happened to be an egg 
from a dish near the soda fountain, and he threw 
it with great vigor at the monkey just as the 
leaders of the piirsuing column went past. But 
his aim was wild, and the egg hit the teamster 
on the head and smashed. 

It was lucky for the storekeeper that the 
teamster was in too big a hurry to stop, for he 
was mad enough to smash all of the store the 
monkey had left; but he ran on with the egg 
trickling down inside his collar, and the pro- 
cession swept forward. 

Of comse most of the crowd went along purely 
out of curiosity, but a few of them were in deadly 
earnest, and when the storekeeper seized a re- 
volver and joined the rush the number was in- 
creased by one very energetic fellow. He reached 
the leaders in short order. 

“ Look out! ” he shouted, brandishing his 
weapon. “ Get out of the way ahead, there! 
I’m going to shoot that darned little cuss! ” 

The Italian instantly turned on him savagely. 

“No shoota da monk! ’’ he cried in a rage. 
“ Don’ta you dare shoota da monk! You shoota 
da monk, I keel you! ” He sprang at the store- 
keeper; the two clinched, swayed violently for a 
moment, and fell sprawling in the dusty street. 
But willing hands soon separated them, and they 
rose with angry looks at each other, and continued 
the chase. 


THE EXPEDITION PAUSES 189 


Back a short distance from the steamer landing 
stood the “ Sebasco Inn,” an old two-and-a-half 
story house, to which had been added a veranda 
on one side and the end toward the street. Once 
it had been a substantial farmhouse and the barn 
was close by at the rear, and adorned with a 
sign which said, “ Horses Baited Here.” 

When the monkey had come this far he left the 
road, climbed on the railing of the Inn veranda, 
and scrambled up a post to the veranda roof. 
And then the crowd arrived. The earnest re- 
marks of the woman and the Italian were so 
plainly unfriendly that the monkey kept on 
climbing, and this time it was up a flag-pole that 
rose from the middle of the veranda roof. He 
stuck to this till he had risen as high as the ridge 
of the house, and then scrambled across on an 
iron brace and gained the ridgepole. With every 
foot of additional height he attained he seemed 
to gain added confidence in himself; and now as 
he danced along the ridge he grimaced uncon- 
cernedly at the throng below, and was quite 
unmoved by either the threats of his owner or of 
the woman. 

“Coma here, you Jock! You coma here, I 
tella you! ” But English was inadequate and 
the grinder burst forth in a stream of vituperative 
Italian that no one but himself could understand. 

The monkey presently sat down gingerly on 
the saddle-boards; suddenly discovered a flea 


190 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


on himself — found and investigated it ; scratched 
the place in a thoughtful mood. He grimaced 
again at the crowd, screwing up his beady eyes 
comically; and then put one paw into the pocket 
of his red jacket and pulled out a small bead 
purse. 

“ That’s it! That’s mine! ” instantly declared 
the woman. 

Meanwhile the crowd kept growing. One 
would not have supposed there were so many 
people in Harpsboro, even in the summertime; 
and to crown all, a load of hay drove into the 
hotel yard — bound for the barn — and the 
driver halted his oxen right in the midst of things 
so that he, too, could see what was going on. 

“ Why don’t you go up inside and climb out 
the scuttle and catch your goldarned old mon- 
key? ” he suggested to the Italian; but his ad- 
monition fell on imheeding ears, for the grinder, 
the woman, and everyone else were now intently 
watching the movements of the animal on the roof. 

He examined the purse all over very carefully; 
felt of it with his teeth; and, at last, quite by 
accident, opened it. This was a surprise, but 
now it stimulated him to further investigations, 
and one by one he pulled out the contents. 

There was small change, and this he didn’t 
intend to lose, but some of it slipped from his 
clutches and went rolling down the shingles and 
off into the crowd, where the youngsters im- 


THE EXPEDITION PAUSES 191 


mediately pounced upon it despite the frantic 
efforts of the owner. Then he pulled out a green- 
back, im folded it with his teeth and one hand, 
scrutinized it critically and tucked it carefully 
into his pocket. 

“Ten dollars!” groaned the woman. “And 
the next thing is my diamond locket! ” 

Meanwhile different ones in the crowd suggested 
all sorts of schemes to capture the monkey, or, 
at least, to get hold of the pocket-book. No one 
seemed to really want the monkey except the 
Italian, though possibly the lemonade-stand man 
might have enjoyed a closer meeting, for he 
stood looking on with blood in his eye. As for 
the teamster, he had gone on farther in search 
of the runaway team. 

The chief suggestion was a ladder, but none 
seemed obtainable; at this juncture, however, 
the driver of the ox-team left his load standing 
in the yard, ran into the house and upstairs, and 
just as the monkey took from the purse the last 
object it contained, — a small gold locket with 
slender chain, — a scuttle opened close by and 
the hay-maker, armed with a pitch-fork, emerged 
upon the roof. The monkey was certainly sur- 
prised, and he retreated toward the flagpole in 
alarm. In his haste he dropped the purse and 
the locket, and the former went kiting down the 
slope and shot off into the crowd — where its 
owner regained it; but the locket slid down for a 


192 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


dozen feet or so, until the chain caught on a 
protruding shingle nail and stopped it. 

“You get it, Bill! ” cried a number of voices 
in the crowd. “ Come on. Bill! It’s up to you 
now! Help the lady. Bill! ” 

Bill, willing to accommodate, straddled the 
saddleboards and worked himself along abreast 
of the locket. Then he reached cautiously down 
with the pitchfork. No use. Then he swung 
around, and, lying on his stomach, stretched as 
far down as he possibly could with his implement, 
but still he couldn’t reach that tantalizing golden 
object. 

At this instant Jim Hilton, who had been an 
interested onlooker, left the crowd abruptly and 
raced toward the wharf. He hurried aboard the 
“ Screamer ” and encoimtered Sumner changing 
his clothes. 

“ Oh, you thought you’d come back, did you? ” 
inquired the latter, in high dudgeon. “ You’re 
a good one, you are — ” 

“ Why, what’s the matter? ” asked Jim in 
astonishment, as he unlocked and opened “ The 
Kit.” 

“ — to leave me to fish for that confounded 
barrel of gasoline,” went on Sumner in a dis- 
tinctly aggrieved tone. “ And it might have 
gone to the bottom for all you knew.” 

“ Of course it wouldn’t go to the bottom,” 
retmrned Jim, who had pulled out a pair of tele- 


THE EXPEDITION PAUSES 193 


graph linemen’s climbers, and, without wasting 
a moment, proceeded to strap them on. “You 
know yourself that the specific gravity of gasoline 
is much less than that of water,’’ he went on, with 
the air of a schoolmaster, “ consequently it would 
be utterly impossible for that gasoline to sink. 
It would be bound to float.” 

“ I guess specific gravity didn’t help me out 
much,” grumbled Sumner. 

“ Why, what happened to you? ” Jim had his 
climbers strapped on and was getting down to the 
float. 

“ I fell in, that’s what; and you’d better gravi- 
tate out of here till I feel better, Jim Hilton, for 
I don’t love you very much just now.” And 
Sumner’s usually good-natured face wore an 
indignant frown. 

“ I’m awfully sorry,” declared Jim. “ I didn’t 
mean any harm; you’ll feel better when you get 
some dry clothes on, and then you’d better hurry 
up to the Sebasco Inn, for there’s something 
doing up there all right.” And Jim ran up the 
steps two at a time and disappeared. Sumner 
hurried into the rest of his clothes, locked up the 
boat, and followed. Wlien he reached the scene 
of the disturbance the haymaker had stopped 
trying to reach the locket with his pitchfork; 
he had descended and secured a number of stones 
and small pieces of wood, with which he tried 
to dislodge the locket; but in his excitement he 


194 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


could not hit it, while ever3rthing he threw fell 
with force into the crowd and raised a storm 
of protest. 

And then Jim Hilton, with climbers adjusted, 
got out of the scuttle upon the roof. Creeping 
along to the side of the man with the pitchfork, 
he began cautiously to descend the slope toward 
the locket, jabbing his spurs into the shingles 
as he did so. It was slow business, for he had to 
work down backwards and flatten the inner sides 
of his feet against the shingles to get a hold. 

The crowd hailed his advent with great en- 
thusiasm. 

“ Here, you young feller,” cried Bill, when he 
realized what was going on. “ If you’re going to 
try any fimny business like that, you take a good 
holt of this pitchfork handle.” 

So, holding to the end of the pitchfork handle 
while Bill held the tines, step by step Jim crept 
down the incline. Below, the murmur of the 
crowd was hushed. Some of them worked their 
way out of immediate range, for spurs and the 
fork-handle seemed slight aids to keep Jim from 
sliding off into the yard, and they didn’t care to 
be underneath if he did fall. But without mishap 
he reached the locket and pocketed it. 

“ Good boy, Jim! ” rang out in clear girlish 
tones at that instant. It was the voice of Madge 
Hilton, who with her cousin Vic — otherwise 
Victoria — Whitcomb, Dorothy and Grace Man- 







STEP BY STEP JIM CREPT DOWN THE INCLINE 


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THE EXPEDITION PAUSES 195 


ning and Val and Carroll, had been attracted to the 
spot by the crowd while on their way to the 
“ Screamer ” to give Jim a surprise. 

It surely was a surprise for Jim, who supposed 
his sister was at Southport, twenty odd miles 
away. He turned involuntarily to look, one of 
his spurs slipped, and as he suddenly swung side- 
wise he gripped the fork-handle tightly. But Bill 
on the ridgepole was not anticipating the sudden 
pull, and he let the tines slip through his fingers. 
Then, amid exclamations of horror from the on- 
lookers, with the pitchfork held in a desperate 
clasp and trying vainly to make his loose spur 
catch, Jim swimg abruptly around, and, sliding 
faster and faster down the slope, shot head-first 
off the eaves into midair! 


CHAPTER XII 


AT HARPSBORO 

Under different conditions it would have been 
laughable to see the crowd in the yard of the Se- 
basco Inn push and scramble to get out of the 
way when Jim Hilton slid off the roof. A kind 
Providence, however, had provided Jim’s alight- 
ing place. He has a confused impression of a sea 
of startled faces looking up at him; then he 
swished through the air and landed on his stom- 
ach, shaken but unhurt, on top of the load of 
hay ! 

Everybody heaved an audible sigh of relief — 
everyone but the organ-grinder, whose monkey 
was still on the ridgepole, and the woman. As 
for the latter, no sooner had Jim landed than she 
pushed her way to the hayrack. She was not 
an uncomely person, and was well-dressed; but 
her chin was a firm one and her lips were com- 
pressed tightly into a thin straight line. 

“ Where are my locket and chain, young man? ” 
she demanded in an uncompromising tone. 

Sumner, pressing his way through the crowd, 
196 


AT HARPSBORO 


197 


came face to face with her, gasped in astonished 
recognition, and backed abruptly out of her sight. 
Jim picked himself up, made sure no bones were 
broken, and slid to the ground. 

“ Here they are, madam,” he said, bowing 
politely as he handed over the jewelry. 

“ Hm! I’m much obliged.” She examined 
her property critically. “ There was a diamond 
set in the side of the locket. Where is it? ” 

Jim’s face had been white, but it began to flush. 

“ Was there? ” he asked. He dug down into 
his pocket and turned it wrongside out, but there 
was no diamond there. 

“ It certainly was there before, and it cer- 
tainly is not there now! ” declared the thin lips. 

The flush on Jim’s face grew into deep red. 

“ I hope you don’t think I kept it,” he said, 
controlling himself with a great effort. 

“ Then where is it? ” was the sharp query. 

“ Madam,” said Jim, with firmness, “ I don’t 
know where your diamond is. I don’t even know 
that you had one. If you want to h\mt, try the 
roof, or the hayrack. And if I had known what 
an awfully disagreeable person you are your old 

locket might have rotted up there for all of 

** 

me. 

Jim evidently had the sympathies of the crowd, 
for a burst of laughter greeted this sally, and he 
seized the opportunity to push his way out of 
the jam and join his sister and friends who were 


198 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


trying to get at him. Sumner came along behind 
him, chuckling. 

“ Oh, Jim,” he exclaimed, “I’ll forgive you 
for leaving me to handle the gasoline after the 
hot liner you gave that woman. She’s the most 
unreasonable woman you ever saw, but, by gum, 
we’re square with her at last! ” 

“ Why, do you know her? ” chorused the party. 

“ Well, I shoiild say I do. That’s Mrs. Chad- 
wick — she lives in South Stroudport.” 

“ Huh, you may think you’re square,” retorted 
Jim, as he felt gingerly of sundry portions of his 
anatomy that had suffered in his recent experi- 
ence, “ but you didn’t slide lickety-split down a 
splintery roof in a pair of mighty thin trousers! 
And now she says I stole her old diamond. Me 
square? Not much! ” 

They did not wait to see how Mrs. Chadwick 
adjusted matters with the organ-grinder — for 
now she proceeded to demand satisfaction from 
him, and so did the storekeeper. Between them 
both, with his monkey out of reach and his organ 
carried off on the “ Mermaid,” the poor fellow 
was fairly beside himself. Madge and Vic were 
anxious to inspect the “ Screamer,” so they all 
went down on board, feeling quite subdued after 
all, for they knew, . despite the fortimate ending 
of the affair, that Jim had been in grave danger. 

After the “ Screamer ” had been examined and 
admired from one end to the other, and there had 


AT HARPSBORO 


199 


been much pleasant conversation about this and 
that, the four young ladies departed, but Dorothy 
and Grace left behind an urgent invitation for 
the young men to be at the Manning tea-table 
at five-thirty sharp, and to bring the mandolins 
and the banjo, “ for we want to have some music, 
you know, and there will be a dandy moon.” 
Madge and Vic were to come to supper, also. 
It was Mr. Manning’s attempt to express to the 
boys in a small way the obligation imder which 
he felt himself for the service they had rendered. 

Val checked off one by one the items on his 
memorandum. The gasoline barrel, around which 
Sumner had merely tied a rope, and left it float- 
ing fastened to the landing, had been tapped and 
hoisted up on one of the davits, so that by 
aid of a short hose it was emptying its contents 
into the tank forward. The cylinder oil had been 
brought back and delivered when the teamster 
caught his runaway steed. “ Ice will be delivered 
early to-morrow morning, so we’ll start with the 
chest full, if we never get another scrap during 
the cruise. Milk — that comes in the morning. 
Strawberries — they’re in the ice-chest. Kero- 
sene for the blue-flame stove — that’s on board. 
And we’ve got the fresh water tank under the 
cockpit chock full.” 

The change from the “ Spitfire ” to the 
“ Screamer,” although it involved a different 
kind of motive power, would cause no change 


200 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


in the sailing schedule. On the next day Carroll 
and Jim would sail the boat, and Val and Sumner 
cook and tidy up. 

“ Fellows,” remarked Carroll, “ it seems to me 
we ought to be getting out of this place pretty 
early in the morning.” 

“ Six o’clock, sure,” said Val. 

“ Why not start to-night.? ” questioned Jim. 
“ The moon will be almost full — it’ll be fine for 
sailing. Besides, boys, I’ve got a hunch — ” 

“ Have you had another dream? ” Sumner 
asked, with a reminiscent grin. 

“ Oh, slush! ” retorted Jim, “ you make me 
weary. Now if I hadn’t had that dream down at 
Codville last summer you know as well as I do 
that we would never have gone over to Stone 
Horse Island and found the cipher, and then where 
would this expedition have been? ” 

“ Oh, well, if that’s the way you feel about it, all 
right.” 

“ I’ve got a himch,” Jim went on, “ that if we 
don’t hurry, something is going to happen — 
somebody’ll get ahead of us.” 

“ Does anybody really want to start to-night? ” 
demanded Carroll, grinning broadly at Val, who 
discreetly said nothing. “ If everybody says go, 
why, we’ll do it.” 

“ We can’t go,” declared Sumner. ‘‘ We have 
a previous engagement.” 

“ That’s so,” said Jim, reflectively, but whether 


AT HARPSBORO 


201 


his mind’s eye saw blue eyes or brown he did not 
say. “ I would like to see Madge once more before 
we start, honest now.” 

There was a chorus of ha-ha’s from the others, 
but they let it go at that. 

“ Honest, I kind of hate to tell about it,” said 
Sumner apologetically. “ It makes me all hot 
inside just to think about it.” 

Sumner was seated in a comfortable piazza 
chair, and so were the rest of the eight, together 
with Mr. and Mrs. Manning, on the broad veranda 
of the Mannings’ summer home. The supper 
had been one to satisfy the most fastidious, and 
the host and hostess and their two daughters had 
done the honors most cordially and pleasantly 
for the youths who had been brought into their 
lives in so unusual a manner. 

The Mannings’ cottage faced the water to the 
eastward, and when they presently emerged from 
the house to the veranda, the moon was shining 
down and tipping the ripples of the sound with 
gloamings of silver. 

At first everybody felt too full to sing, so they 
chatted awhile, and suddenly Carroll asked Sum- 
ner why he had such a grudge against Mrs. Chad- 
wick; and why he had been so secret the night 
they chased the man through the Chadwick yard. 
Sumner hesitated. 

“ Never mind,” said Madge, encouragingly. “ If 


202 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


you have anything to confess, now’s the time; 
besides, if you are harboring a grudge you ought 
to get it right out of your system.” 

Sumner briefly explained who Mrs. Chadwick 
was, and that her property backed up to that of his 
friend Captain Bucklin. 

“ One day two years ago last spring Harry 
Chadwick and I were playing ball out in his 
garden, and I tried to knock a fly for him to catch ; 
but it turned out to be a liner. Well, he missed it, 
of course — he’s a regular butter-fingers, anyhow 
— and it went, smash ! right through his mother’s 
dining room window! ” 

“ And you had to settle? ” said Carroll. 

“ Settle! ” Sumner’s voice was edged with 
fine irony. 

“ There was a big yellow cat on the inside 
window sill,” he continued. “ She didn’t get 
hurt, but the ball hit and busted an aquarium 
and the water and a lot of goldfish ran out on the 
carpet, and the cat had a fine meal off the fish — 
that is, she had made a good start when Harry’s 
mother got there.” 

A roar of laughter went up at this point. 

“ Was she very mad? ” asked Mrs. Manning. 

“Yes, ma’am; why she was so mad she 
hopped ! Oh really, I hate to think about it. But 
how was I to know she had that aquarium there? ” 
he demanded. “ And ’twasn’t my fault her cat 
liked fish, was it? Well, not hardly, and I told 


AT HARPSBORO 


203 


her so. But she’s an awfully unreasonable person 
— isn’t she, Jim? — and ever since then I always 
try to keep away from her.” 

A fresh and more prolonged roar of laughter 
greeted this assertion. 

“Was that all there was to it? ” asked Dorothy, 
when they had regained their breath a little. 

“ Pretty near, except that the water ran the red 
color in the carpet and it leaked down through 
the floor into the basement. And what do you 
think? She had some sheets drying on a line 
down there, and the red water dripped on ’em 
and made ’em all streaky like. But I’m sure I 
couldn’t have known her old carpet wouldn’t 
stand water or that the washing was hanging 
up down cellar, now could I? ” 

The others mechanically shook their heads — 
they couldn’t speak. 

“ Did you pay up? ” again asked Carroll, after 
a pause. 

“ I had ten dollars saved to buy a self-inking 
printing press; but I had to give it up to repair 
the damages. She is so awfully unreasonable; 
why, nothing I could say would make her believe 
it was Harry’s fault because he muffed the ball. 
And after that I didn’t want to get a printing 
press because I knew every time I used it I’d think 
of that woman.” 

After this diverting narrative was finished the 
boys timed up the mandolins and the banjo; and 


204 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


they all sang — sang everything they could think 
of; all the popular songs, and college songs, and 
the good oldtime songs. It was a night for ro- 
mance, there in the radiance of the summer moon, 
with the gleaming water in front, and the lights 
of Little Sebasco in the distance. Jim might have 
been anxious to see his sister once more before 
the “ Screamer ’’ sailed, but now he had certainly 
confused her identity with that of Vic Whitcomb ; 
while Sumner had entirely forgotten the cause 
of his embarrassment at Cod Island the summer 
before, and his chair seemed determined to keep 
bumping Madge Hilton’s. Carroll was near Grace, 
and Val was not so very far away from Dorothy; 
while Mr. and Mrs. Manning were holding hands 
and joining in the singing, as they gazed pensively . 
across the moonlit sea. 

Presently Val, who had a really good tenor 
voice, began a soft accompaniment on his mando- 
lin, and sang that beautiful song, “ On Venice 
Waters.” And when he reached the chorus. Cal, 
Jim and Sumner joined in: 

« Over the foam we glide, borne on the rippling tide. 

Under the dreamy summer skies, 

Watching the mists around us rise; 

What tho’ the world be wide, love’s golden star will guide, 
Drifting along, glad is our song, while we are side by side.” 

There was a burst of applause from the others 
as the song ended, and then the party broke up. 


AT HARPSBORO 


205 


Well run up past here and give you a salute 
— six A. M. sharp,” declared Val, as they said 
good-bye. “ Will anyone be on deck so early.? ” 

“ Early! ” protested Dorothy. “ Why six 
o’clock is the middle of the forenoon.” And then 
they laughed, but the girls all agreed to be out 
to wave the “ Screamer ” a good-bye. 

It was ten-thirty when the boys boarded the 
motor-boat, and they didn’t lose any time in 
turning in. It was cool and breezy down there 
on the water, so they locked the companion doors, 
leaving the slide open, opened all the ports and 
the skylight, and retired. 

“ Say, but she’s got a mighty roguish pair of 
brown eyes, hasn’t she. Cal? ” murmured Sumner, 
sleepily, from his bunk as quiet settled down 
on the boat. 

“ Don’t talk to him about brown eyes,” said 
Val. “ All Cal can see is blue eyes and golden 
hair.” 

But to this badinage Carroll made no reply. 
He was all at once very soundly asleep; and as 
for Jim, if he could see eyes of any color it was 
in dreamland. 

It was half-past-five when they came back to 
consciousness, and it was a bumpety-bump along- 
side that aroused them, not the daylight, for the 
sun had been above the horizon over an hour. 

“ A-a-all hands! ” cried Val, loudly, and as the 
others sat up yawning, he poked his head out of 


206 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


the companion to see what had caused the dis- 
turbance. There was the “ Ginger ” tied up at 
the other end of the float, and in her were Rad 
Conway and Alf Richardson. 

“ Go back to bed, you disturbers of the peace,'' 
he called. Rad and Alf were distinctly surprised. 
They left their boat and boarded the “ Screamer." 

“Who belongs to it.?” demanded Rad, indi- 
cating the boat. 

“ I do," said Val, and explained how he got her. 

“Well, I’ll be jiggered; I thought you were 
married to that sloop-yacht," Alf declared. “ Will 
she go any? ” 

“ Oh, I guess we can squeeze nine or ten miles 
out of her, even when she’s loaded for cruising." 
Which was true enough! 

“ Who’d you swap with? " asked Rad, as he 
looked the boat over. 

“A Mr. Manning — he bought her of Captain 
Roderick." 

“ Where did Roderick get her? " 

“ I think he bought her in Boston; anyhow 
she came from there. She was built at Lawley’s 
a year ago last spring." 

Rad leaned over and whispered in Alf’s 
ear. 

“ Say, I’ll bet this is the boat that was — ” 

“What are you whispering about?" Val de- 
manded, in mock curiosity. 

“ Oh, nothing much," said Rad, in a rather 


AT HARPSBORO 


207 


embarrassed manner. Whatever his remark may- 
have been, he did not complete it, for as Val 
talked he had been dressing, as had the others, 
and the transom beds having been made up for 
the day, the visitors were invited to inspect the 
boat’s interior. 

“ Let me tell you two fellows, that was a das- 
tardly insult you handed out to us yesterday 
morning,” remarked Carroll, with a good-natmed 
grin, “ an insult to be wiped out only in blood! 
What are you doing ’roimd here, anyway? ” 

“ We ran in late last evening and stopped over 
night at the Sebasco Inn,” replied Rad. “ I’m 
giving Alf a little vacation.” 

“ Say, did Mrs. Chadwick find her diamond? ” 
asked Sumner. 

“And did the monkey come down?” from 
Jim. 

“ Are you the fellow that slid off the roof? ” 
demanded Rad. “ ’Cause if you are you had a 
narrow escape with your life. I don’t mean when 
you fell into the hay, but from that woman. 
She raved ’round there like a crazy person for over 
ten minutes, and then what do you think? She 
found that miserable little diamond in the purse. 
It had come unset and been there all the time. 
Then, after the crowd went away, the grinder 
coaxed the monkey down, and gave back the ten 
dollar bill ; and he patched up with the lemonade 
man by paying him a dollar.” 


208 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


As it was now evident that the “ Screamer 
was ready to start, the visitors disembarked. 
Hasty good-byes were exchanged, and while Val 
and Sumner pulled in the lines, Jim started the 
engine and the cruise in the “ Screamer ” was 
really begun. 

“ Well be back this way in a few minutes,” 
called Val. “ If your eyesight is good you may be 
able to see us as we go by.” 

Up the sound they headed, and after a short 
run came around in a sweeping ctirve in front 
of the Manning cottage. 

“ Let her go, Sum! ” cried Val, and then the 
breechloading brass cannon, which had fired many 
a salute from the deck of the “ Spitfire,” barked 
loudly. 

“ Bang! ” 

“ That’s one. Give her another — we want six 
of those, one for Mr. Manning, one for Mrs. Man- 
ning, and one for each of the girls.” 

“ Bang! ” Sumner threw open the breech- 
block, extracted the empty shell and reloaded as 
rapidly as possible. 

“ Bang! ” 

“ There’s somebody! ” cried Jim. “ It’s the 
Manning girls, and they’re waving to beat the 
band.” 

“ Bang! ” 

“ There’s Madge and Vic, over at their house,” 
exclaimed Carroll, as two girls appeared over on 


AT HARPSBORO 209 

the next veranda, and ran down to the top of the 
high bank above the beach. 

“ Bang! ’’ 

“Hurrah!” said Val. “There are Mr. and 
Mrs. Manning, as sure as I’m alive, and Mrs. 
Manning is waving a flag.” 

“ Bang! ” 

This ended the salutes. During this time the 
engine had been turning free, but as the last 
discharge sounded Carroll threw in the clutch, 
and the “ Screamer ” started down the sound, 
while the party on shore and the party aboard 
waved vigorously at each other. It was an aus- 
picious departure. 

As they ran down toward the steamboat wharf 
another boat shot out into the channel. 

“Jim Hilton,” called Carroll from the steering 
wheel to his engineer below. “ If you know as 
much about gasoline engines as you say you do, 
now’s your time to make good. Tune her up and 
keep her tuned, for Rad Conway is after our 
scalps in the ‘ Ginger.’ ” 

“ He wants to see us ‘ squeeze nine or ten miles ’ 
out of her, and then give us the haha when he 
goes by, same as he did yesterday with the ‘ Spit- 
fire,’ ” declared Val, poking his head out of the 
galley where he and Sum were preparing break- 
fast. 

“ I dreamed we raced the ‘ Ginger,’ ” asserted 
Jim, as he bent over the engine, and oiled up 


210 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


carefully, adjusting the machine to a nicety until 
it talked out an even, unbroken stream of “ Chi- 
chi-chi-chi-chi! ” 

“Did we beat her? ” demanded Sumner, pausing 
in the act of slicing a potato. 

“ Give it up,” was the rueful reply. “ I woke 
up in the middle of it. But if we don’t, it won’t 
be because I don’t handle the engine the best I 
know how. It’ll be because the machinery can’t 
come up to the scratch.” 

And then the three below decks could stand the 
pressure no longer, and hurried up. 

“ I guess we can wait for breakfast,” Val com- 
mented. “If we’re going to have a race — 
where is the ‘ Ginger ’ ? Oh, she’s loafing along at 
half speed. Better close those starboard port- 
holes, Sum. We may get some spray aboard 
if we don’t. The wind is southerly, and we’ll 
get it rather quartering.” 

And then they lapped the “ Ginger’s ” stem, 
and the race was on, for before they came abreast 
Rad Conway had started his engine at full speed. 

It was a glorious morning for a race — it was 
a grand morning just to be alive. As far ahead 
as the eye could reach the waters of the Atlantic 
glistened under the clear July sun as they came 
rippling in before the southerly wind. The tide 
was slack, — just at the tium of the ebb, — and 
islands on either side loomed high in the morning 
light with their sea-weed-laden rocks laid bare 


AT HARPSBORO 


211 


by the low water. Two miles ahead was the red 
buoy on Turnip Island Ledge, and toward this 
both boats were racing. 

Down the long reach the motor-boats held on. 
Their mufided exhausts puffed with the regularity 
of trip - hammers — trip - hammers wonderfully 
speeded up ; and yet their relative positions 
changed not a hair. The bow of the “ Screamer ” 
lapped the stern of the “ Ginger,” and there it 
stayed. Such an example of exactly similar 
speeds in racing craft was rare; but to the boys 
on each boat it was exasperating as well. 

“ Jim, it’s up to you to get us by that boat,” 
cried Carroll, presently. “ Jim, if it’s in that old 
engine you’ve just got to get it out! ” 

The two boats were about fifty feet apart. On 
the “ Ginger ” Alf was at the wheel, his face set 
straight to the front; Rad was aft beside the 
engine. To look at them one would have thought 
they did not know such a craft as the ‘‘ Screamer ” 
existed. 

On the “ Screamer ” Val and Sumner were 
taking it easy in the lazyback. They were trying 
to wear an air of indifference which they were far 
from feeling. Carroll kept his eyes on the bow 
and the red buoy away down channel which 
marked their turning point eastward. But Jim? 
At Carroll’s insistent call he rushed down the 
companion steps and tackled the engine. The 
spark was a dandy fat one; the gasoline mixture 


212 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


seemed to be just right. How about the water 
circulation in the cylinder jackets? He felt of 
the cylinders one after another. Aha! One was 
hot — very hot. Was the piston binding just 
the merest trifle? That circulation valve which 
had caused trouble for Mr. Manning the day before 
was trying to get in its deadly work again; but 
now Jim opened it wide, and the throttled water 
circulation, whose duty was to keep cooled to a 
working temperature the cylinder heated by the 
incessant explosions of gasoline gas, resumed its 
flow. In a few moments the cylinder was as cool 
as the others, and Jim, feeling that he had done 
all in his power, went into the cockpit. 

“ I think we’re beginning to gain,” said Val, 
presently. And after a minute, “ Yes, boys, I’m 
sure of it; and Rad thinks we are, too. See him 
tinker his engine! ” 

Onward and still on raced the motor-boats, 
their keen prows cutting the water like knives. 
Dashes of spray blown from the wave tops 
splashed over the bow, and spattered the eager 
racers with showers of gleaming drops, but they 
scarcely noticed them. 

Slowly but surely the “ Screamer ” was creep- 
ing ahead! Slowly but surely the greater power 
of her engine coupled with the superiority of her 
hull’s design were winning out against the 
“ Ginger,” fine boat though the latter surely 
was. 


AT HARPSBORO 


213 


Foot by foot the “ Screamer ” crept up on her 
antagonist. Now her bow was opposite the “ Gin- 
ger’s ” midships, now it was passing the curve 
of her bow; now the two boats were neck and 
neck. Then the cruiser drew ahead, ahead, ahead. 
Val quietly brought out the megaphone; but he 
said nothing. He laughs best who laughs last, 
and races are sometimes won on curious flukes. 
It is never wise to crow till one is out of the woods ; 
but when the “ Screamer ” had slowly but stead- 
ily pushed herself past the other boat, and a clear 
streak of water showed between them, Val raised 
the big speaking horn to his lips, for he could not 
resist the opportimity. 

“ I say, Rad,” he called, with laughter in his 
voice, “ if you’re in a hurry to get anywhere in 
particular, give us your bowline and we’ll take 
you in tow.” 

But Sumner, seized by sudden impulse, broke 
into song. “ Join in, boys,” he admonished, and 
they did. 

Rad Conway, good-natured even in defeat, 
shook his fist at the “ Screamer ” as he gave up 
the race; but the last thing he heard from the 
victors as he headed back to Harpsboro was 
exasperating words loudly chanted to the tune 
of “ America.” 


“ There are no flies on us. 
There are no flies on us. 
No flies on us ! 


214 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


There may be one or two 
Great big fat flies on you ; 

There are no flies on us, 

No flies on us.” 

“ That was bully,” declared Sumner, with great 
enthusiasm, as he resumed breakfast preparations, 
“ and his hash is settled for good and all.” 

“ What could he expect to do with nothing 
but a heap of junk to run his boat.?^ ” demanded 
Jim, loftily. 

“Jimmy, you’re all right; but he’ll probably 
catch us sometime when our engine is gummed up 
and beat us out of our boots.” 

The high granite cliffs at the southern end of 
Whale Island were close on the port bow, and the 
“ Screamer ” was running at half speed, while the 
boys studied the chart and noted the surroimdings 
carefully. Just before they passed the south- 
western point they had seen on shore a group of 
buildings, one with a tall smokestack. In front 
of the latter building a wharf projected into the 
water and a steamer was tied up there. 

“ It’s a big granite backbone, with trees here 
and there, and that’s about all of Whale Island,” 
was Carroll’s verdict, in which the others, from 
their first impression, concurred. 

As the directions gleaned from the ciphers told 
them to start from a ci*oss on the eastern shore 
they had decided to find a suitable landing place 


AT HARPSBORO 


215 


on that side and make a camp there. On the pre- 
vious summer Val had been driven ashore in the 
steam-yacht “ Sea Rover ” on this island. The 
yacht by the merest chance had run ashore in a 
sandy cove, and it was determined to find this 
same cove, for it would afford good anchorage, 
and Val thought the shore would be suitable 
for the camp. 

It was about two o’clock on the afternoon of 
the day they left Harpsboro. Soon after the 
“ Screamer ” turned the red buoy on Turnip 
Island Ledge Carroll had put her on a course 
nearly southwest by east. From there Whale 
Island was about sixty miles away, and the 
cruiser had reeled off the whole distance without 
a single hitch, averaging about ten miles an hour. 
Dinner had been cleared away when they got 
near enough to Whale Island to distinguish ob- 
jects ashore, and now everyone was eagerly 
speculating on what they were about to find. 

Smoke rose lazily from the stack near the land- 
ing, and several men were working near the fac- 
tory. Except for this they had seen no signs of 
life on the island, which at its southern end was 
about a mile across. But as the “ Screamer ” 
moved at half-speed between the shore and a 
series of outlying ledges and small islands, Jim 
with the glass caught sight of a man on the 
beach, walking toward the east along the base 
of the cHffs. 


216 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


He swept the face of the rock with the glass 
and saw something else. A second man was 
leaning over the top of the cliff, watching the 
one below. This second person was evidently 
somewhat in advance of the one on the lower 
level. He looked intently down for a moment 
while the other, unconscious of the scrutiny, kept 
advancing. Then he began to pry with furious 
energy at a good-sized boulder resting near the 
edge of the cliff. 

All this had been hurriedly detailed to the 
others, but now they were close enough to see the 
figures plainly themselves. 

“ Good gosh! ” ejaculated Jim. “ That fellow 
up top is trying to drop that rock on the other 
one and smash him! ” 

Instantly everyone was on edge with excite- 
ment. 

“ No, he can’t start that rock,” Jim presently 
stated. ” He’s sneaking along the edge of the 
cliff, just ahead of the man below. See him? ” 

“ Lordy, this is awful,” cried Sumner. “ Can’t 
we do something, fellows? ” 

“Yes, if we can only get ashore in time,” said 
Val. He picked up the megaphone and pointed 
it at the fellow on the beach. And just then 
the man above crept to the edge of the cliff, stood 
there an instant poising a large rock in his hands, 
and when the man below was directly underneath, 
dropped it. 


AT HARPSBORO 


217 


But in that instant’s pause, while the rock 
was poised over the brink, Val sent forth a sten- 
torian call. 

“ Look up! Look up! ” he said. 

Neither of the men ashore had seen the ap- 
proach of the “ Screamer.” The muffler was an 
effective one, and the scarcely noticeable pufflng 
of the exhaust was drowned by the light surf. 

It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that 
Val’s shout greatly surprised the man on the 
beach ; but he looked up, saw something hurtling 
downward and jumped aside. He escaped the 
rock, but this in its fall struck the branches of a 
dead tree which projected from the face of the 
cliff. One of them fell with the rock, and hit 
squarely on his head, knocking him prostrate. 
The assailant, who had knelt to note the result 
of the attack, when he saw the motor-boat’s 
approach hurriedly disappeared. An instant 
afterward the “ Screamer ” grounded on a pebbly 
beach. 


CHAPTER XIII 


IN CAMP 

Is — is he — dead? ” whispered Sumner hes- 
itatingly to Val, who was kneeling by the pros- 
trate man and feeling of his heart. 

“No; only stunned,” was the quick reply. 
“ Just wet this handkerchief in the surf, will you, 
and let me have it? ” And presently Val was 
bathing the unconscious man’s forehead and 
temples, while Sumner and Jim looked on with 
much concern. Carroll was in charge of the 
“ Screamer.” At length the man gave a sigh 
and opened his eyes, and then Val recognized 
him. 

“ Halloo, Captain Field,” he remarked; “ that 
came pretty near being your finish.” 

The Captain of the “ Dorabelle ” looked about 
for a moment with a dazed expression. Then his 
head cleared a little and he tried to sit up. 

Well, m be hanged,” said he, as after several 
attempts he reached a sitting posture. “I’d 
like to know who the darned skunk was that fired 
that rock down at me.” 

218 


IN CAMP 219 

He felt with painful solicitude of a rapidly 
rising lump on his head. 

“ Don’t you know? ” Sumner inquired. 
“ Hadn’t we better try to catch him, fellows? ” 

“ Don’t you bother,” said the Captain, as he 
again felt his cranium over carefully. “ He’s 
got so fur by now that I’ll bet none of us could 
find him. My head seems to be in one piece, 
yit,” he went on, more cheerfully, “ but I must say 
I am some shook up.” 

“ Do you live ’round here? ” Val asked. 

“ Wal, I hope not,” responded the Captain, 
with more vigor in his tones than hitherto, as he 
rose unsteadily to his feet; “ but that’s my po’gy 
factory ’roimd the point, and the old ‘ Dora- 
belle ’ at the wharf.” 

“ Ah,” said Val, with a flash of imderstanding. 
He knew now why Fenderson, alias Pike, had 
given him Cheney Landing, the settlement at the 
north of the island, as his post-office address. 
“ You’d better get aboard our boat, Captain, 
and let us land you at your wharf.” 

“I’d thank you kindly if you would,” replied 
Field. He was evidently much shaken by his 
narrow escape from serious injury, although he 
tried not to show it. 

There was no further conversation until they 
were on the “ Screamer,” which was backed off 
the beach after some effort, for the tide was ebb- 
ing, and headed for the landing at the factory. 


220 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“ Nice boat you got here,” remarked Field, 
eyeing the craft critically. “ By the way, who 
are you fellows, anyhow? ” 

An amused smile played over Val’s face. It 
was apparent the Captain had not recognized 
him after all, though perhaps his senses had been 
dulled by his mishap. 

“ We’re from Stroudport, most of us. My 
name is Brandon — ” 

“ Good Lord! Is that so? ” exploded Field, 
sharply scrutinizing him. “ Ain’t I got rid of 
you yet? ” he added, grimly. 

“ It seems not,” retorted the yoimg skipper. 
“ How’re the po’gies running in Saco Bay? Then 
this is Sumner Parker, and this is James Hilton 
and this man at the wheel is Carroll Morse.” 

The Captain looked as though he was going to 
have a fit. He started up suddenly, with a flush 
on his face. 

” That’s the fellow I’m a-looking for,” he cried, 
stepping quickly toward Carroll. “ Say, you 
young monkey, where’s that boat you stole the 
other night? ” 

Now Carroll had been paying strict attention 
to steering and had not caught the name of the 
man who had been rescued ; nor did he hear the 
conversation till Field bellowed out his last ques- 
tion. But he turned quickly enough when Field 
placed a heavy hand on his shoulder, and im- 
patiently shook it off. 


IN CAMP 221 

“ What’s the matter with you, and who are 
you, anyhow? ” he demanded. 

“I’ll let you know who I am,” was the retort. 
“I’m Field, Captain of the ‘ Dorabelle.’ Now 
where’s that boat you stole? ” 

“ If you’re captain of a vessel you ought to 
know better than to bother the man at the wheel,” 
said Carroll, sharply. “ Sit down and cool off, 
and I’ll tell you what became of that boat after 
we get clear of these shoals.” 

This reply so surprised the Captain that he 
gasped and sat down again, while the rest 
chuckled. 

“ Don’t you know who threw the rock down at 
you? ” asked Val, after a minute’s pause. 

“If it had been last summer I’d have said it 
was a crazy man that lived ’round here awhile till 
they took him off to the Augusty asylum; but 
now I’m blamed if I have the least idea,” was the 
serious reply. “ That fellow took to cornin’ 
’round the factory, and got to be such a nuisance 
that I drove him off sev’ral times, an’ then he 
took a grudge against me. But now he’s gone 
I hain’t got an enemy in the world so fur’s I 
know.” And it was apparent that the identity 
of his assailant was a great and unwelcome mys- 
tery to the Captain, and for some moments he 
pondered deeply. Then another subject claimed 
his attention, and just as the “ Screamer ” ran 
alongside the po’gy steamer he inquired sharply: 


222 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“ Where be you fellows bound? ” 

“ Just cruising,” was Val’s non-committal reply. 
“ Is there a good chance to camp on this island? 
We might stop here a day or so if there’s any 
chance to pitch a tent, good water, and a safe 
anchorage. We don’t care to cruise all the time 
— the quarters get too cramped.” 

The Captain looked keenly at his questioner a 
moment before answering. 

“ Wal,” he finally said, with a short laugh. 
“ I don’t reckon you would want to camp ’round 
here while the fact’ry’s runnin’, and when the 
wind’s your way you’ll find out why. They ain’t 
no cottagers nearer than three miles up on either 
side. This end of the island is all trees and rocks 
and underbrush, and I don’t reely believe there’s 
a cove fit to anchor a lobster-pot in. You’d 
better go further up the island before you land. 

” An’ now, Carroll Morse, tell me where that 
bo’t of mine is,” he demanded, for Carroll had 
stopped the propeller and throttled down the 
engine, and the motor-boat had made fast along- 
side the fishing steamer. 

” Certainly,” was the quiet reply. “ When we 
took that boat away we honestly believed that 
Pike had stolen it from Robertson’s cove, for he 
had already taken a valuable paper and a bicycle. 
We were halfway to shore when we found out it 
belonged to you ; but before we had decided what 
to do about it the trouble broke out on the ‘ Bay 


IN CAMP 


223 


Queen ’ and we ran over to help. After that was 
over we went back to your anchorage, but you 
had sailed. That boat, Captain Field, is at the 
Stroudport Yacht Club wharf in care of the 
janitor, who has instructions to deliver it to you 
or your representative.” 

Somewhat to Carroll’s surprise this explanation 
seemed to satisfy the Captain. He nodded in 
acquiescence, and climbed on board his steamer. 

“I’m much obliged to you for helping me out, 
boys, I reely am,” he called after the “ Screamer,” 
as she swung off and headed back the way she 
had come. Half an hour later she felt her way 
into a snug cove on the eastern side of the island, 
not more than half a mile from its southern end. 

“ How’s this for an anchorage? ” asked Val, 
cheerily. “ And did you ever see a bigger story- 
teller than that same po’gy captain? Right up 
there to the right among those tall pines I’ll bet 
there is the best kind of a camp-site.” The others, 
after due inspection, agreed with him. 

The davits were swung outboard, and for the 
first time since Val had owned the “ Screamer ” 
her tender was raised from its chocks and lowered 
into the water. Then they all went ashore to 
locate the camp. 

“ Almost exactly a year ago to-night I came 
ashore in this same cove on the ‘ Sea Rover,’ 
in a fog, and with a crazy man at the wheel,” 
said Val reminiscently, as they landed and climbed 


224 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


the bank on the south side of the cove; “ and I 
don’t want any more of that in mine.” 

The three prime requisites for a camp were 
right at hand: water, fuel, and a dry, sheltered 
location. The cove was some hundred yards deep, 
and its mouth was so protected by outlying 
ledges that the deep-sea swell could not roll in 
unobstructed. It offered, therefore, an excellent 
anchorage for the “ Screamer.” Its head ter- 
minated at a shelving sand beach, down which 
a brook ran from the higher ground. This was 
clear and fresh, so they dug a hole in its course 
and left it to fill up. Both sides of the cove were 
wooded. The north side was a tangle of hardwood 
growth, for the most part, though there were 
some fir and spruce, while vines and briers grew 
rankly in the openings; but on the south side 
was a cluster of tall pines, their smooth trunks 
rising straight and clean, and not showing a branch 
for fifty feet. 

These after a fashion surrounded the level top 
of a small knoll that rose from the edge of the 
cove and attained its full height a couple of rods 
back. The wall-tent was brought ashore; sap- 
plings cut and trimmed for the ridgepole and the 
supporting uprights; the necessary number of 
pegs cut and sharpened ; and there on the needle- 
carpeted top of the knoll they made the camp. 
The tent was pitched with its front toward the 
sea, which was only a few hundred feet distant. 


IN CAMP 


225 


and plainly visible out between the pine trunks. 
The tent was provided with a double top, which 
was spread to afford added protection from the 
rain. Other saplings were cut, and a second piece 
of canvas spread for an awning just in front of 
the tent, it being the intention, if boards could 
be procured, to build a dining-table there. Since 
it was impossible to tell whether their stay would 
be long or short they brought ashore only the 
articles absolutely necessary for comfort. The 
blue-flame stove and a supply of kerosene for it, 
a moderate quantity of food, the transom cush- 
ions to serve as mattresses, four rubber blankets 
and twice the number of woolen, with some service- 
able cushions for pillows. When these and other 
necessaries had been landed, and the knoll began 
to look like a camp, it was after four o’clock; 
but the sun was still high and Val proposed that 
two of them take a walk along the shore toward 
the south, and prospect for the cross; the 
other two could remain to finish tidying the 
camp. 

“ You and Cal better go,” urged Jim, “ for 
Sum and I want to build a fireplace. There’s a 
dandy place for one against this boulder here, 
and a camp without a campfire is no camp at 
all.” 

As all the really necessary work of camp build- 
ing was done, Val and Carroll departed, and the 
others began collecting stones and building a 


226 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


rough fireplace on one side of a huge rock that 
stood on the southerly edge of the knoll-top. 

Though they had not been working long, yet 
the fireplace was beginning to assume definite 
proportions, when they heard a crackling among 
the underbrush near the head of the cove, and a 
man appeared and made his way to the top of the 
knoll. If he was surprised at seeing the tent and 
other camping paraphernalia he did not show it, 
but his countenance wore a frown, and he had no 
sooner caught sight of the boys than he began to 
talk in an unnecessarily loud tone. He was 
rather above medium height, thickset and mus- 
cular. He wore rubber boots, a pair of rough 
trousers of some dark material, and a dirty cotton 
shirt, while a slouch hat topped his head. His 
aspect was decidedly unfriendly, and Jim and 
Sumner desisted from their work in considerable 
astonishment when he appeared. 

“ What are you doing here.? ” he demanded. 

“ Building a fireplace,” replied Sumner. “ A 
camp’s no good without a fire, you know.” 

” That isn’t what I mean and you know it,” 
was the quick retort. “ Who gave you leave to 
camp here.? ” 

Jim and Sumner looked at each other appre- 
hensively. It had not occurred to any of the 
boys that there could be a possible objection to 
their camping in such an out-of-the-way, rough, 
and deserted place as this. 


IN CAMP 


227 


“Come, come!” exclaimed the man roughly. 
“ If you’ve got a permit to camp here let me see 
it.” 

“ Who are you, anyway? ” demanded Jim, bris- 
tling at the other’s coarse manner. “ What right 
have you to come ’round here and talk like this? ” 

“ I’ll show you who I am,” was the retort. 
“ This island belongs to Charles Vinal of Rock- 
land, and he don’t allow any campers on it. I’m 
the man that has charge of this end of it. You 
campers seem to think you can butt in anywhere 
whether you’ve got permission or not; but you 
can’t stay here. I won’t be rough with you as 
you didn’t seem to know just how matters stood, 
but you’ve got to get out by to-morrow forenoon, 
or you’ll get yoiirselves into trouble.” 

“ Can’t we get a permit to camp here? ” asked 
Jim. “ We’d like very much to stay for a week 
or — ” 

“ No sir, you can’t; and I’ll tell you why. You 
fellows go to building fires ’roimd, go away and 
leave ’em carelessly, and the result is, a wind 
springs up, the sparks get scattered, and the whole 
woods get to blazing.” 

“ Huh,” grunted Sumner, rather incredulously. 
“ Seems to me you got here pretty soon after 
we did. Wlio told you about us? ” 

The question was unexpected, and for a moment 
the newcomer seemed at a loss for a reply. 

“ Well — I — it’s my business to be looking 


228 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


out for just such chaps as you, and I caught you. 
See.? ” 

“ Would you mind telling us your name? ” 
asked Sumner. “You are this Mr. Vinal’s agent, 
are you? ” 

“ Oh, my name’s Sanders,” replied the man, but 
his eye had lighted on the “ Screamer ” and his 
attention was attracted by her. “ Is that your 
boat? ” he queried. 

“ She belongs to one of us,” vouchsafed Jim, 
rather crustily. 

“ What do you call her? Is she fast? ” 

“ A motor-boat cruiser — oh, she can do twelve, 
easy.” 

Mr. Sanders walked down to the edge of the 
cove for a closer look. He inspected the craft 
with deep curiosity. 

“ She certainly is a corker,” they heard him 
remark. “ Screamer — Screamer,” he mused. “ I 
say,” he exclaimed, “ that ain’t Dan Newton’s 
‘ Screamer,’ is it? ” 

“ Well, I guess not,'' replied Sumner, decidedly. 
“ She’s Val Brandon’s ‘ Screamer.’ ” 

Mr. Sanders looked thoughtfully at the boys 
and then at the motor-boat, spat forth a mouthful 
of tobacco-juice, and remarked: 

“ Kind of odd, though, ain’t it, there should 
be two of them of the same name? Newton’s 
was a gasoline cruiser, and so’s yours.” 

“ Oh, they turn ’em out by the trainload, now- 


IN CAMP 


229 


adays,” returned Jim, impatiently, and ‘Screamer’ 
isn’t such an vmcommon name — not for a speedy 
boat. Who is this Newton, anyhow? ” 

“Why, he’s — well, there, I don’t know as I 
can tell you that. He was aroimd Penobscot Bay 
last siunmer in a peach of a schooner-yacht — 
‘ Penelope ’ her name was. He always seemed to 
have plenty of money — ’’ 

Penelope,’ did you say? ” broke in Sumner, 
impelled by sudden recollection of a recent inci- 
dent. 

“Yes; why?” 

“ Say, is this Newton short and rather stout, 
and does he wear clothes so loud you can hear 
’em a mile off ? ” From Sumner. 

“ No, that don’t fit Newton at all. He’s kind 
of tall, wears good clothes — a quiet sort of 
chap. Guess you don’t know him. But what 
gets me is why you fellows want to settle down 
and camp out in a tent, when you’ve got a boat 
like that. Now if ’twas me I’d want to keep sail- 
ing all the time.” He smiled suggestively. 

“ Perhaps so; but if you can go sailing any time 
you wish, you get tired of it and want a change,” 
explained Jim. 

“ Now, Mr. Sanders,” he went on in a per- 
suasive tone, “ all we want is permission to camp 
here for a week or two. You see, there’s fresh 
water handy, and good anchorage — good fish- 
ing, good swimming, good place for the tent. 


230 AN ISLAND SECRET 

Why can’t we make some arrangement with 
you? ” 

But the answer was sharp and decisive. 

“ No, sir! My orders are positive. I haven’t 
got anything against you boys, but if you don’t 
get out of here by to-morrow forenoon. I’ll have 
to put you off.” 

With this parting shot Mr. Sanders departed, 
disappearing inland the way he had come. After 
a moment’s deliberation Jim and Sumner re- 
sumed their work, and soon had finished a stone 
fireplace of generous proportions. They then 
took the hatchet and collected a large pile of dead 
wood. 

“ If this is to be our first, last, and only night 
on Whale Island,” remarked Jim, “ we’ll have 
one good campfire in spite of Mr. Sanders.” 

Val and Carroll returned by six o’clock, and 
foxmd supper nearly ready. They had made their 
way along the rough and rocky shore to the 
southeastern extremity of the island and back 
again, without seeing anything that remotely 
resembled a cross, either iron, stone, or wooden. 
Although the distance was short, the roughness 
of the ground had made it a tiresome tramp, and 
they dropped wearily into the chairs that had 
been brought from the “ Screamer; ” but when 
they heard of the visit of Mr. Sanders, they sat 
up in lively manner. 

“ And he ordered us to get out by to-morrow 


IN CAMP 231 

forenoon? ” said Val. “ What sort of a person 
is this Sanders? ” 

Sumner described him. 

“ And he looked something like a fisherman — 
he smelt of fish, or something like that — didn’t 
you think so, Jim? ” 

“ I didn’t get to loo’ard of him,” remarked 
Jim, “ but he was dirty enough to smell of most 
anything.” 

“You remember the night you went out to the 
‘ Dorabelle,’ Sum? Did you get a good sniff 
of her? ” asked Val. 

“ Did I? Yes, sir, he smelt like that. I’ll bet 
he’s from that po’gy factory across the island.” 

“ There’s a nigger in the woodpile,” agreed 
Carroll, sagely. “ That was all poppycock about 
his being on the lookout for just such people as 
we. He got here too soon, and I’ll bet Field sent 
him to see if we had landed, and try to frighten 
us off if we had.” 

“ He must think we’re a lot of easy marks,” 
said Jim, as he pulled the last of the supper off 
the stove and sounded the call to eat. “ But who 
owns this island, anyhow? Does anyone know? ” 

No one replied for a minute, as they were too 
busy disposing of fried ham and potatoes, huge 
slices of bread and butter, coffee, and sundry other 
things. Supper was served under difficulties 
that night for they had no table but their laps or 
the ground ; but they made light of their troubles, 


232 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


and the food disappeared at an alarming rate 
before the assaults of four healthy appetites. 

“ I understood that Whale Island belonged 
to the Blue Hill Granite Company,” said Val, 
presently. “ They have a quarry at Cheney 
Landing, the village at the north end of the 
island. The company is a big concern with quar- 
ries all over creation — a sort of granite trust, 
you might say — and I don’t know where their 
head offices are; New York, like as not; but they 
must have a superintendent here, and if they 
own the island, he can probably be prevailed 
on to give us a camping permit. The thing for 
us to do is to go up there bright and early and 
find out the rights of this thing, get a permit if 
we can, and then when this Sanders, or anybody 
else, comes aroimd and tries to scare us off we 
can give him a dose of his own medicine.” 

And the matter was left in that way. 

By the time supper was eaten and the dishes 
washed the sun was down, and although it was 
the middle of July, and July is a warm month, 
out there on the island fully ten miles from the 
nearest mainland, it was cold enough for a fire. 
A cool wind breathed in from the sea, and it was 
not long before a cheerful blaze was snapping in 
the stone fireplace, and the boys were grouped 
in front of it, comfortably lounging in the chairs. 

Half of the charm of camp life is the roaring 
fire at night, with its column of darting spark§^ 


IN CAMP 


233 


the flickering shadows, and the glowing blaze 
dispelling the chill of the night air. As they sat 
there the moon looked coldly down through the 
pines, while the soimd of the ocean’s surges break- 
ing against the island’s rocky barriers came plainly 
to their ears. But by the fireside there was naught 
but warmth and good cheer. It was the same 
moon and a portion of the same ocean on which 
they had gazed the night before, but every mo- 
ment since that time had been so eventful that 
the pleasant hours spent at the Mannings’ seemed 
ages ago. 

“ When we go up to the Landing in the morning 
we’ll get some empty boxes and knock together 
some camp furniture,” said Val, after they had 
finished discussing Sanders’ remarks about the 
“ Screamer,” and Sumner had recalled to mind 
the curious behavior of the two men on the 
yacht “ Penelope.” 

” Yes, that’s so; and get a clam hoe,” urged 
Sumner. “ I’ll bet there’s a lot of clams up at the 
head of this cove. I saw a good many little holes 
in the sand when I went after that last pail of 
water, anyhow.” 

“ Say, Sirni, do you know that clams always 
open their shells when it’s high tide? ” Carroll 
asked. 

“ Of course they do; that’s when they get their 
feed — when the tide comes in.” 

“ No, I mean when they are dug up in a pail. 


234 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


When it’s high tide they’ll open their mouths — 
I mean their shells — whether they’re near the 
water or not.” 

” Oh, go hire a hall,” said Sumner, ungra- 
ciously, rising and walking down toward the cove. 
He seemed to be suspicious of this yarn. ” As 
for you. Cal Morse,” he flung back over his shoul- 
der as he disappeared, ” you open your mouth 
whether the tide is high or low.” 

Sumner came back to the firelit circle in a 
few minutes, and his good humor was completely 
restored. He brought the mandolins and the 
banjo — the latter being his property, and the two 
former belonging to Val and Carroll respectively. 
As for Jim, his musical instrument consisted of a 
very good voice. 

“ The next number on our program is a banjo 
solo by Mr. Sumner Parker,” Cal annoimced as 
Sumner came up the slope. Val and Jim began to 
clap uproariously, but Sumner was primed for 
the occasion. After tuning his instrument he 
sang the following to an air that was pretty much 
his own improvising. 

“The name of this song,” he remarked, “is: 
‘ When Jimmy Chased the Monkey on the Roof.’ ” 
And he plimged into his theme. 

“ It was on a summer’s day, and the steamer ‘ Mermaid ’ 
lay 

At her dock ’way down in Harpsboro, on the shore of Stroud- 
port Bay. 


IN CAMP 235 

On her deck an organ-grinder ground his tunes out with a 
dash, 

While a mighty lively monkey skipped around and took the 
cash. 


CHORUS 

“ Oh, when Jimmy chased the monkey on the roof. 

Said the monkey : ‘ This is where I keep aloof.’ 

So he climbed up gay and happy. 

Feeling fine but pretty scrappy ; 

When Jimmy chased the monkey on the roof. 

“ Now the monkey wasn’t satisfied, he hankered to be 
wealthy. 

So he grabbed a lady’s pocket-book, but found it wasn’t 
healthy. 

The lady screamed, the dago howled, the monkey skipped 
out clean. 

But Jimmy heard the rumpus and came hot-foot on the scene. 

“ Oh, Jimmy is a dreamer and his dreams are tinged with red, 

And there’s always something doing after Jimmy goes to bed ; 

For the valiant deeds that he performs when he is sound 
asleep 

Are enough to raise your hair on end and put your nerves 
acreep. 

“ But Jimmy is a dandy, and there’s nothing, you may guess. 

That appeals to valiant Jimmy like beauty in distress. 

Cried he : * I’ve dreamed this thing three times and now it’s 
coming true,’ 

So he buckled on his climbers and up the wharf he flew. 

“’Way up high on the hotel roof the monkey sat at ease ; 

He opened up the pocket-book — flung contents to the breeze. 


236 AN ISLAND SECRET 

The money flew — the purse went too — but a locket and a 
chain 

Slid down the roof, caught on a nail, and stuck with might and 
main. 

“ Said Jim, ‘ I am a climber and I’ve got my climbers, too! 
Just let me at that monkey and you’ll see a thing or two.’ 

He clambered down, got locket and chain, but a shingle 
gave away. 

And he slid pell-mell down a splintery roof right into a load of 
hay ! 

“ Oh, when Jimmy chased the monkey on the roof, 

That the shingles were quite splintery he had proof. 

Did he fall down ? I should say I 
But he lit smack on the hay ; 

When Jimmy chased the monkey on the roof. 

“ Now the locket had a diamond, but when Jimmy hit the 
hay 

That brilliant gem had vanished in some dark, mysterious way. 

The woman vowed he had it ; but Jim spoke soft and low : 
‘ You’re such a perfect lady I suppose it must be so.’ 

“When Jimmy chased the monkey on the roof 
That the lady was a corker he had proof. 

‘ I’m quite satisfied,’ said he, 

‘ Just climb up yourself and see ; 

But I’m done chasing monkeys on the roof.’ ” 

The instant Sumner finished a perfect roar of 
laughter went up. Jim, especially, howled and 
stamped his appreciation; while Sumner grinned 
modestly, and felt well paid for his strenuous 
intellectual efforts. 


IN CAMP 


237 


“ I thought that all out coming down on the 
‘ Screamer ’ to-day,” he asserted. “I’m kind 
of shy on choruses, though, for it’s hard to find 
good words to rhyme with ‘ roof.’ ” 

“ Never mind, old man; you’re long on general 
ideas,” consoled Cal. 

“ Anyhow, I guess that will hold me for awhile,” 
Jim remarked, when he had recovered his breath. 

“ Is this a camp of wild Injuns, or what? ” asked 
a voice from the outer darkness. 

The boys turned in surprise to see Captain Field 
approaching from the direction of the cove. He 
wore a bandage aroimd his head, but stepped 
vigorously into the firelit circle, and seemed other- 
wise to have fully recovered from his mishap. 

“ Take a chair. Captain,” said Val, rising and 
relinquishing his seat for a pile of cushions. 
“ This is an unexpected pleasure.” 

“ Thanks; don’t care if I do,” was the reply; 
and seating himself. Field began filling his pipe, 
while the boys waited curiously to hear the object 
of his visit. 

“Mighty cheerful, ain’t they? — open fires, I 
mean? ” he presently remarked when the pipe 
was drawing to his satisfaction. The boys assented 
and Sumner piled on more wood. 

“ Hain’t seen nothin’ more of that cuss that 
threw the rock, have ye? No? Well, I cal’late 
that’s a mighty curious affair.” And the Captain 
puffed for a moment in silence. 


238 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“ Well,” said he, finally, “ I kind of thought 
you’d camp here, and soon’s the cobwebs cleared 
out of my head from that tunk I got it occurred 
to me ’twouldn’t be more than a neighborly kind- 
ness to call ’roimd and tell you a few facts — for 
puttin’ two and two together of coiurse I figgered 
out why you’d come.” 

” Speak right out if it’s about the cipher, for 
we all know about it,” said Val, reassuringly. 

” That’s what I thought, and I s’pose you 
solved it, same’s I did.” 

“ We found out something about it,” Carroll 
admitted. 

” No beatin’ ’roimd the bush, now,” cried the 
Captain. “ Yes or no; ain’t you found out what 
them papers mean? ” 

” Since you pin us down so closely,” was Val’s 
retort, “I’d rather not say whether we have or 
not.” 

“ Oh, shucks! ” was the impatient exclama- 
tion. “ Of course you have, or you wouldn’t be 
camping here. But it won’t do you a mite of 
good.” 

“ Won’t do us any good? ” repeated Jim. 
“ Why not? ” 

“ Because I got the treasure,” was the surpris- 
ing declaration. 

“ You’ve — got — the — treasure? ” asked Val, 
slowly and incredulously. 

“You bet!” The Captain straightened up 


IN CAMP 


239 


in his chair, took a vigorous puff on his pipe, 
removed it and spat straight into the fire. Then 
he looked aroimd on the group with a triumphant 
grin. 

“ I told you I had a hunch someone would get 
ahead of us,” muttered Jim to Sumner. 

Oh, dry up; you make me weary with your 
‘ hunches,’ ” replied Sumner. 

“ Kind of surprised, ain’t you? ” remarked 
Field, at length. 

“Yes, but I hardly see how it can be so,” said 
Val. “You had only half of the cipher to work 
with.” 

“ That was a drawback. I’ll allow,” agreed the 
Captain, “ but then, you see I had the island to 
go by. Now I’ll tell you how I done it. In the 
first place, I figgered out what that cipher meant. 
It was something like this: ‘ Go three hundred 
and twenty from on shore of island and box 
beneath.’ Wasn’t that it? ” 

“ Thanks to what you said about pricemarks. 
Captain, we made it that way too, but that’s a 
pretty slim clue to any treasure.” 

“ I’ve got Sherlock Holmes done to a frazzle, 
"anyhow,” grinned Field. “ Now there was the 
triangle. I knew that one of the ciphers come 
from Tower Island and the other from Stone 
Horse Island, so, reasons I, the treasure is on 
the third island, and that’s Whale. Then, — 
and this is where havin’ the island to work with 


240 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


come in handy, — I knew there was an old land- 
mark on the shore — ” 

Whereabouts? ” demanded Sumner. 

** I ain’t a-tellin’,” said Field, calmly, “but 
I took that for my startin’ point.” 

“ But how’d you tell which direction to go? ” 
interpolated Jim, leaning eagerly forward in his 
chair. 

“ Well, now, it’s funny, ain’t it? ” was the 
laughing rejoinder, “ but reely there’s only one 
way you can go from that landmark, exceptin’ 
right out to sea; so it wan’t no trouble to know 
which direction to take, and we took it. We was 
some puzzled about the three himdred and twenty, 
whether it was feet or what. But, thinks I, we 
can run it out in feet, and if we don’t strike 
nothin’ we’ll try some other measure. So we 
done it that way, and we found the box. 

“ You boys ain’t in it for a minute,” he de- 
clared. “ There’s nothing left for you at all, and 
the best thing you can do is to turn right ’round 
and hike for Stroudport.” 

“ Tell us what was in the box, if you don’t 
mind.” The request came from Carroll. 

“ Doubloons,” replied the Captain, laconically. 
“ Doubloons — pieces-of-eight — ingots! ” 

“ Lordy! ” groaned Stunner, “ and we missed 
all that? ” 

“ What does a doubloon look like. Captain? ” 
Val asked. “ How much is it worth, anyhow? ” 


IN CAMP 


241 


“Yes, and what is a piece-of-eight ? ” broke 
in Carroll. 

A sly twinkle appeared in the Captain’s eyes. 

“ Well,” he returned, “ to tell the truth I was 
speakin’ somewhat figuratively when I used them 
words. There was a small ironbound box and 
in it we found about thirty pounds of gold coins, 
all with what looked like Spanish words on ’em, 
and the dates was ’way back — old fellows. Be- 
sides that, there was some fifty pounds of silver 
coins — I guess them must have been the pieces- 
of-eight I was talkin’ about,” he added. “ And 
there was seventeen of the prettiest little dia- 
monds you ever laid your eyes on — and that 
was all.” 

“ What do you figure the whole thing’s worth? ” 
asked Val. “ The gold and silver would amount 
to about $5,300 — that is, the weights you men- 
tioned.” 

“That’s what Pike cal’lated. We sent the whole 
thing up to Boston. The ‘ Dorabelle’s ’ laid up 
for temporary repairs to her boiler tubes, but 
if we can get fixed in time we’re goin’ up to- 
morrow night with a cargo of po’gy oil and expect 
to get returns. I sh’d say the diamonds and all 
would clean up close to ten thousand. Pike says 
he’s goin’ to Emope when he gits his share,” he 
laughed, “ but I’m goin’ to pay up my mortgages 
and stay to home.” 

“ Haven’t you got any of the coins with you 


242 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


so’s we can look at ’em? ” asked Sumner, anx- 
iously. “ I never saw a doubloon in my life.” 

“I’m mighty sorry,” was the regretful reply, 
“ but we sent every last one of ’em off to Boston.” 

“ Who’s the foreman at your po’gy factory? ” 
asked Val suddenly. 

“ Why, Bill Sand— ” began Field. Then he 
stopped as if he had been hit. ‘‘ Why, what — ? ” 

“ I thought so,” was the short rejoinder. 
“ Don’t you think it was rather unneighbor ly 
to send him over to order us off the island before 
we had hardly landed? ” 

“ Did Bill Sanders order you off? ” asked the 
Captain. “ Well, he’s Vinal’s agent on this end 
of the island, and the orders about campers is 
strict. If he told you to go, you’d better go — 
he means business when he gets started, and you 
hain’t really got any right to camp here, now, 
have you? ” 

The Captain rose from his chair, knocked the 
ashes from his pipe, and moved toward the cove. 

“ Good night, boys,” he said, “ and I hope 
I’ve saved you some trouble about huntin’ for a 
treasure that ain’t there any longer.” 

He had hardly disappeared before Val left the 
fireside and crept stealthily after him, leaving 
his friends in an animated discussion of the Cap- 
tain’s statements. In about ten minutes the 
young skipper returned and resumed his seat. 

“ Well? ” inquired Carroll, suggestively. “ How 


IN CAMP 


243 


soon are you going to start back to Stroud- 
port? ” 

“ I told you someone would get ahead of us,” 
reminded Jim. 

Val laughed heartily. 

“ Cheer up, fellows. You can take everything 
that man said with a big grain of salt. I just fol- 
lowed him down to the water, and what do you 
think I found out? ” 

“Tell us, quick,” demanded Jim. 

“ Pike was waiting for him in a row-boat, and 
I crept along the shore as they rowed out. I 
heard Field say: ‘ I took a spoke out of their 
wheel all right ! I give ’em the stiff est steer they 
ever had in their lives. I’ll bet; and if they ain’t 
gone by to-morrow forenoon I miss my guess.’ 

“ ‘ Yes, but what if Heffier comes before they 
get out of here? ’ asked Pike. ‘ We can’t run 
out to head him off unless Jake gets his tubes 
fixed.’ 

“ ‘ He ain’t due before to-morrow afternoon 
— he can’t possibly get here,’ said the Captain, 

‘ and there’s lots of things can be made to happen 
before then.’ Then they rowed off and I couldn’t 
hear any more.” 

“ Well, I breathe easier,” declared Sumner, 
“ for perhaps he was lying about the treasure 
after all.” 

“ I guess any bright fellow could have made up 
the yarn he did, if you think it over. Outside 


244 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


of the one cipher he has translated he didn't 
really tell us anything definite — nothing but 
what any one could guess at,” Val said. “ We’d 
better stay here and hunt awhile. There’s no 
sense in going till we’re dead sure he told the 
truth.” 

“Yes, but who is Heffler.? Do you have any 
idea.? ” This was propounded by Carroll. 

“ Heffler.? ” This was a name that had caused 
Val to ponder. He had heard it before somewhere, 
and it was not a common name. Then, in a flash, 
his mind went back to the time when he lay, 
recovering from his fall, on the “ Dorabelle’s ” 
deck. He could almost hear that drawling voice 
say, “ and I cal’late Heffler could land ’em in 
the cove, and put ’em up at this old place till we 
had time to finish the job.” 

A curious conviction gradually took possession 
of Val’s mind as his memory recalled that frag- 
mentary conversation. 

“ No, I don’t know who Heffler is,” he said, 
and he went on and related what he had over- 
heard while on the “ Dorabelle,” a subject that 
had not recurred to him since that night. 

“ Boys,” cried Carroll, “ last summer we butted 
into a plot and got ourselves into all kinds of 
trouble before we got out again. Are we going 
to have the same kind of luck this year? ” 

“ I can’t imagine what we may be getting up 
against,” Val said, thoughtfully, “but it’s pos- 


IN CAMP 


245 


sible the story of finding the treasure was made 
up out of whole cloth just to get us out of the 
way so he can put through some scheme he 
doesn’t care to make public.” 

One thing was certain, Captain Field was ap- 
pearing in a very odd light, and his affairs and 
conversation furnished plenty of material for 
discussion till bedtime. As darkness advanced, 
however, Jim grew more and more nervous, and 
finally declared he couldn’t go to sleep without 
rigging some kind of an alarm to warn them of 
approaching prowlers. 

“Who knows,” he demanded, “but what that 
same man may heave a rock in on us? ” 

“ Then let’s stand watch,” suggested Sumner, 
who did not feel sleepy. 

” If you’re all as tired as I am I know mighty 
well the watchman would go to sleep as soon 
as the rest of us. No, sir! I know a scheme 
worth a dozen watchmen,” and Jim proceeded 
to rig what he called his “ automatic picket 
line.” 

He brought ashore from his “ kit ” on the 
“ Screamer ” a quantity of stout twine, some 
insulated wire, a pair of dry batteries, an electric 
switch, and an electric bell. While Val and Car- 
roll were making everything snug aboard the 
motor-boat for the night, with Sumner’s assist- 
ance he put his scheme into operation. 

First they ran a line of twine around the camp 


246 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


outside the encircling pines, enclosing a space 
perhaps forty feet in diameter, and brought the 
ends of the cord together. Jim then tacked the 
switch to a tree, about a foot from the ground, 
and tied both ends of the twine to the lever in such 
a way that when the line was pulled it would 
close the switch. Then he attached the insulated 
wire to the switch and laid it to the tent, where he 
connected up the batteries and the electric bell. 
He now had a snugly-drawn line of cord all 
around the camp, kept at a uniform height of 
about a foot from the ground by the tree 
trunks. 

“ Of course the scheme isn’t perfect,” admitted 
Jim, when the work was completed, “ because 
the first one that hits the string will probably 
break it; but, even if he does, the pull will close 
the switch and set the bell ringing, and it’s easy 
enough to tie the line together again. 

“ Look out there, you fellows! Step high! ” 
he called, as Val and Cal came up from the cove. 
But the line was indistinguishable in the dark, 
and the foremost ran against and broke it. The 
tension on the cord pulled the switch shut, and 
instantly the bell in the tent began to ring furi- 
ously. 

“ What did I tell you?” said Jim, triumphantly, 
as he ran to retie the cord. “ Isn’t that just the 
stuff, boys? ” 

‘‘ We’re finding out what’s in the ‘ kit,’ at 


IN CAMP 247 

any rate,” remarked Carroll, sagely, as he exam- 
ined the burglar alarm. 

“ Ho, this is nothing to what would have been 
in it if I had known we’d really come on the 
‘ Screamer,’ ” retorted the electrician. “ I had 
a whole wireless telegraph outfit that I made my- 
self all ready to tote down here. I was going to 
use the engine on the motor-boat to run a small 
dynamo to generate the current, too, and then 
we could have talked with all the boats an3rwhere 
around us that were equipped with wireless.” 

“ Now I understand why you wanted to know 
about the diameter and revolutions of the fly- 
wheel,” said Sumner, regarding Jim with ad- 
miration. 

“ But I had to leave it behind,” said Jim, 
yawning, “ and now I’ve got a wireless that calls 
me to bed.” 

“ Your message is addressed to the whole 
bunch,” declared Val; and they headed for the 
tent. 

In ten minutes everyone was asleep, while the 
moon looked down peacefully on the quiet scene, 
the wind sighed softly through the branches of 
the pines, and the deep-sea swell murmured a 
lullaby on the rocky shore. 

An hour or two passed, and in spite of the hard- 
ness of the beds all were slumbering soundly, 
when of a sudden the electric bell began to ring 
like mad. Everyone awoke with a start. 


248 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“ Look out for rocks! ” shouted Jim, scrambling 
out from under his blanket. The others piled 
out at the same moment, and immediately there 
was turmoil inside the tent. 


CHAPTER XIV 


HIXON BUTTS IN 

“ Where’s the lantern? ” growled Carroll, 
groping hastily about in the dusk. His hand 
closed on a bare ankle, and called forth loud 
expostulations from Sumner. 

“ Ouch! I’ve got him! No, he’s got me! Oh, 
for goodness’ sake won’t someone stop that 
bell? ” 

But Jim, clad in white pajamas, darted out of 
the tent and ran for the switch. As he crossed 
the open space before the fireplace he bumped 
unceremoniously into a man standing there. 
Without a thought of the consequences he grasped 
him tightly by the arm. 

“ Come quick, boys ! I’ve got him ! ” he shouted. 
‘‘ What are you doing here? ” he demanded of 
the stranger, who, curiously enough, did not offer 
the slightest resistance, or make any attempt to 
release himself from Jim’s clutches. 

The others immediately emerged from the tent, 
Carroll lighting the lantern as he came, and the 
quartette, all in pajamas, surrounded the captive. 

249 


250 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“ Great Scott, boys, but it does seem good to 
see you,” declared the latter, blinking at the light 
of the lantern Carroll held up to his face. He 
was a fellow of medium height, dressed in slouchy 
working clothes, and had a soft hat pulled down 
over a face which was in need of a shave. His 
voice trembled with agitation. 

“ Why, what’s the trouble? Wlio are you, any- 
how, and what do you want? ” In a breath aU 
these questions were flung at his head. 

“ One at a time, please,” replied the stranger. 
“ I’ve had a pretty fair sort of a scare, and I’m 
about all in, but if you’ll give me a little time I’ll 
tell you all about it.” 

Sumner started a blaze in the fireplace, for it 
was shivery out there in night clothes. Jim in 
the meantime shut off the electric bell, and they 
all sat down before the fire and listened with 
great curiosity to the tale the stranger related. 

“I’m Tom Hixon,” he began, simply. “ I work 
for the Blue Hill Granite Company — stone- 
cutter. Yesterday I took a day off to go fishing in 
my sloop the ‘ Pollywog,’ and when I got back 
to the landing about four o’clock the steamer from 
Rockland was just pulling out. There was a queer 
looking duck standing on the wharf — looked 
like a professor of some female college, all dried 
up, and wore glasses — and he had a pile of bag- 
gage strewed ’round beside him. 

“ ‘ My good man,’ he called to me. ‘ Can I 


HIXON BUTTS IN 


251 


engage your services to convey me and my be- 
longings down to Camp Ottumwa? ’ 

“ ‘ I ain’t in the trucking business,’ said I, ‘ but 
if we can get there in the “ Polly wog,” and you’ve 
got money enough to pay the freight, I guess it’ll 
be a go,’ for I had no idea where this Camp Ot- 
tumwa might be. 

“So he got on board with his duds, and we 
sailed down the west shore several miles and put 
in at a cove there. The camp is near the water, 
but it was closed up, so I helped the professor 
land his stuff and get supper — for he had feed 
enough along to last a month. It was dark by 
that time, and he invited me to stay all night, and 
I agreed. Said he, ‘ I regret to say that I am 
addicted to somnambulistic habits, and if you 
should wake up and find me walking aroimd in 
my sleep I would be much obliged if you’d just 
arouse me.’ 

“ About an hour ago, as near as I can guess,” 
continued Mr. Hixon, “ I woke up and found 
the professor had gone out, so I pulled on 
my clothes and started after him. It’s pretty 
rough country over there, but there’s paths 
if you know where to look for ’em — which I 
don’t. 

“ I soon got into one, though, and was following 
it through the moonlight, which made things 
plain, when all of a sudden I heard a sharp crack- 
ling in the imderbrush. 


252 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“ ‘ Professor! ’ I called. ‘ Is that you? Wake 
up, professor! ’ ” 

“Was it the professor? “ asked Sumner, who 
was greatly interested in this odd tale. 

“ Well, it wasn’t any professor that I ever heard 
of! ” declared the narrator, with a shudder. “ It 
most freezes me now to think of it! ” 

“ What happened? ” demanded the four in a 
breath. 

“ Somebody burst out of the bushes with a 
rush, and ran down the path at me like chain 
lightning,” was the startling declaration. “ His 
arms were waving like a windmill, and he was 
hollering fit to kill! 

“‘Flee, child of woe! Flee, child of woe!’ 
that was what he said. Did I run? You bet I 
did, and I never stopped till I got here. I was 
tickled to death when I saw your tent, though 
I am real sorry to wake you up in this way.” 

“ Oh, that’s all right,” Val reassured him. 
“ And you didn’t find the professor, after 
all? ” 

“ Not a sign, and, to tell the truth, I haven’t 
got much appetite left for hunting after him,” 
admitted Hixon. “ If you don’t mind I’ll just 
doze here till it gets light, and then I guess I’ll 
have nerve enough to go back to the ‘ Polly wog.’ 
I say, what was that bell I heard ringing when 
I came? ” 

“ That’s our burglar alarm,” explained Jim. 


HIXON BUTTS IN 


253 


“ Nobody can come within a certain distance of 
the camp but the alarm will go off.” 

“ Good idea, with wildmen chasing around,” 
commented Hixon. He asked no further ques- 
tions ; but took the pair of blankets the boys gave 
him, filled the fireplace with wood, and laid down 
on the ground in front of it. 

Jim repaired the break made by Hixon in the 
“ automatic picket line,” and once more the boys 
turned in. In spite of the excitement caused by 
Hixon’s coming they all went soimd asleep in a 
short time. But they were not destined to finish 
the night in peace. About four o’clock the bell 
again began to buzz, and everybody promptly 
awoke, but as it was nearly sunrise the occurrence 
was not as startling as the first alarm had been. 
Jim went out and shut off the switch. Hixon 
had gone; his blankets were empty. The east 
was brightening, and birds were chirping and 
calling to one another back in the woods. 

“ Our man’s gone,” reported Jim, as, after 
repairing the line once more he went back to bed. 
“ He’s got his nerve back and cleared out. I’m 
not going to get up yet — there’s another snooze 
coming to me.” And he rolled in for a final nap. 

It was six o’clock in the morning. Three bare- 
foot youths, with their pajama jackets discarded, 
stood abreast of one another facing a fourth 
youth clad in similar fashion, on the high bank 


254 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


of the cove. Brightly shone the sun, and a pleas- 
ant breeze soughed through the pines. An ener- 
getic oven-bird was making the air vibrate with 
his shrill crescendo “ Teacher -teacher -teacher- 
teacher-teach ! ” while in the quiet intervals a 
catbird conducted a cheerful monologue in a 
maple tree across the cove. 

“ Now, Jim, your father wrote that you were 
pale and nervous from over-study, and needed 
fresh air and exercise,” remarked Val, who was 
the one standing alone. Here’s where you get 
exercise, and the rest of us will take it too, to 
keep you from feeling lonesome. 

“Arms extended,” he instructed. 

Four pairs of arms swung up to a horizontal 
position; and then came what is termed in a 
gymnasium a “ setting-up drill,” consisting of 
arm and body movements, which continued till 
every drop of blood in their bodies was stirring 
merrily, and perspiration was ready to start gently 
forth. 

Then the exercises stopped. Off came the 
trousers, and one after another came four splashes 
as the boys dove off the ledge into a deep spot 
in the cove. Sputtering and blowing like a school 
of porpoises up they came a moment later, swam 
ashore, and began a rapid rub-down with big 
bath towels. 

“ Lordy, b-but wasn’t that water cold? ” cried 
Sum as he scrubbed lustily at the wet places. 


HIXON BUTTS IN 


255 


“ You bet you, but I’m not a bit chilly; I feel 
fine and dandy. Tell father I’m getting better,” 
laughed Jim. 

Then came breakfast, prepared by Carroll and 
Jim. 

” I want to know who stepped on my feet this 
morning? ” demanded Cal as he passed the coffee. 

'' It was the same duck that grabbed my ankle 
in the night thinking I was the lantern,” Sumner 
promptly retorted. “You did, yourself.” 

“ Oh, fade away. I mean it,” said Carroll, 
earnestly. “ Just before that burglar-buzz went 
off the second time somebody was moving around 
in the tent and stepped on my feet. Now I want 
to know who it was.” 

“ Say, I believe someone was walking around 
me once,” said Jim, after some reflection, “ but 
it was dark and I was so sleepy I thought it was 
a dream.” 

Both Sumner and Val denied being the culprits. 

“ Well, then,” said Carroll, as a sudden sus- 
picion flashed upon him, “ maybe that Hixon 
fellow wasn’t so simple and guileless as he ap- 
peared. He handed out a curious sort of a story, 
and I think we’d better look our stuff over and 
see if it’s all here.” 

“ I noticed one thing,” declared Jim, “ but I 
was so much interested in what he told us that I 
forgot all about it.” 

“ What did you notice? ” asked Sumner. 


256 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“ He smelt like that man Sanders, the po’gy 
foreman.’’ 

At this announcement breakfast was tempo- 
rarily abandoned. Everyone hurried to his 
property. The “ Screamer,” of course, was at 
her anchorage, and the tender was where it had 
been left, high and dry on the beach. Some of 
the wearing apparel in the tent seemed to have 
been disturbed, but Sumner was the only one to 
report , a loss. 

“ The cipher’s gone! ” he cried excitedly, as he 
inspected one of his coat pockets. “ I had a copy 
of the Tower Island cipher in that pocket, and 
it’s disappeared!” 

“ I’ll bet Hixon took it,” declared Val, “ and 
that he’s one of Field’s men, too.” 

“ I’U bet you’re right,” agreed Carroll, while 
Sumner and Jim regarded him with gloomy eyes; 
“ and now Field has the whole cipher, the same 
as we have, and it’s a race to see who’ll get the 
treasure first.” 

“ Then the yarn he gave us last night was a lie,” 
said Sumner in a tone of huge relief, “ for if Field 
had really found the treasure he wouldn’t be 
stealing our cipher. That’s some consolation, 
anyhow, fellows.” 

Val and Sumner started early in the “ Screamer” 
for Cheney Landing. As the chart showed deep 
water close along the shore for nearly the entire 
distance, they ran in as near as they could, and 


HIXON BUTTS IN 


257 


all the way up the island one or the other kept 
the glass levelled at the shore in an attempt to 
find the cross. For a couple of miles after leaving 
the cove they saw no signs of human habitation. 
Then at intervals they passed summer camps, 
and saw people here and there; but the sharpest 
scrutiny failed to find a cross. 

Somewhat crestfallen at this result, but not 
discouraged, a little less than an hour after leaving 
camp they ran alongside the cribwork supporting 
the outer end of the steamer wharf at the Landing, 
where they tied up at a flight of steps and went 
ashore. 

They foimd the place to consist of a number 
of buildings, some for business, but mostly of a 
residential character, strimg along a street that 
followed the shore of the little harbor. Up on the 
hillside behind the settlement tall derricks loomed 
in the quarry pits. The tap-tap-tap of stone- 
cutters’ hammers sounded from a group of half- 
open sheds near the water front; and farther 
along the shore was the company’s wharf, where 
lay a three mast schooner, while a donkey engine 
puffed vigorously as it hoisted granite blocks 
into midair to lower them into the hold. 

The office of the granite company was a one- 
story affair, containing two rooms. In the outer 
room was the book-keeper and time-keeper’s desk 
— for one man filled both positions — and two 
draftsmen were at work near him. This was only 


258 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


one of several quarries operated by the Blue Hill 
Granite Company, its local administration being 
in charge of Superintendent Cunningham. By 
good luck, however, the General Manager was 
present on a trip of inspection. He looked up 
inquiringly from his consultation with the super- 
intendent as Val and Sumner entered the inner 
office and confronted him. 

“ Yes, I’m the manager,” he replied to Val’s 
inquiry. “ What can I do for you? ” 

” Will you please tell us who owns the lower end 
of this island? ” Val came to the point at once. 

“ Charles Vinal of Rockland — the lower end, 
the upper end, and the middle of it,” was the 
reply. ” Why do you ask? ” 

“ We thought the granite company owned it,” 
said Sumner, in a crestfallen voice. 

” No, sir; you’re mistaken. The company 
doesn’t own a foot of Whale Island; it gets its 
quarry rights by lease from Mr. Vinal.” 

” Do you know if Mr. Vinal has an agent on 
the south end of the island named Sanders? ” 
persisted Val. 

“ Never heard of him. Did you, Cunning- 
ham? ” 

The superintendent mused thoughtfully. . 

” The only Sanders I know down there is the 
foreman at Field’s po’gy factory,” said he, pres- 
ently; ” and I guess that when Mr. Vinal makes 
an agent of him we’ll all know it.” 


HIXON BUTTS IN 


259 


“ Tell us what you are driving at, young 
man,” said the manager, ” and perhaps we can 
help you out. By the way, who are you, any- 
way? ” 

“ I am Percival Brandon, and this is Sumner 
Parker. We are from Stroudport.” 

At this announcement the face of the manager 
expanded in a broad smile. He arose and shook 
hands with great heartiness. 

“ Well, I ought to know you even if you don’t 
know me. I’m the father of Cheney Killen, the 
youngster that this chap” — and he patted 
Sumner on the shoulder — “ pulled out of the 
water down at Hope Island last summer. If 
Cheney has told me the adventures of Val, Cal 
and Stun once he has done it a dozen times. Well, 
well, but I’m glad to see you, boys.” 

After that it was plain sailing. The boys de- 
scribed the trouble they had had with Sanders. 

“ We hoped,” concluded Val, “ that the man 
was wrong; and that you would give us per- 
mission to camp where we are.” 

“So he ordered you off the island, did he? ” 
rejoined Mr. Killen. He seized a pen and began 
to write rapidly. 

“There, boys,” when he had finished. “If 
Sanders bothers you again show him this; and 
if that don’t settle him, let me know. Charles 
Vinal owns the whole of Whale Island, but the 
company holds a long-term lease of it; and I 


260 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


guess we’ve got jurisdiction down at your camp 
as well as up here at the Landing.” 

Needless to say this statement was very pleasing 
to the boys, and they felt very well satisfied with 
themselves as they said good-bye to the manager. 

Next they spent a few minutes with the pay- 
master, from whom they ascertained that the 
man Hixon really had worked for the granite 
company, but had been discharged some time 
previous, and was understood to be working for 
Captain Field at the po’gy factory. 

“ That fixes him! ” remarked Val, grimly. And 
they went along to the company’s general store. 

Half an hour later the “ Screamer ” was run- 
ning back to camp. At the store they had re- 
plenished certain shortages in their larder, and 
refilled the ice-chest. Several packing cases were 
also purchased, as well as some smaller boxes, 
and these, partly knocked down for greater con- 
venience in transporting, they had taken aboard, 
as well as a lobster-pot — hired from a fisher- 
man — and a clam-hoe. The fisherman had veri- 
fied Sumner’s suspicions by asserting that “ there 
was pretty middlin’ fair clammin’ up in the head 
of that there cove.” 

The search for the cross was kept up on the 
way back just as closely as it had been on the way 
up; for no one could tell where it might be lo- 
cated, and objects that are concealed when one 
is going in one direction are often in plain view on 


HIXON BUTTS IN 


261 

the return. However, after all their trouble they 
saw nothing of it. 

They had come within a mile or so of camp, and 
were skirting a long stretch of rocky bluff when 
their attention was caught by the sight of a man, 
hatless and coatless, running madly down the 
slope toward the water. One hand grasped a 
garment of some kind, and as he ran he glanced 
frequently over his shoulder at something behind. 
This quickly developed into another man coming 
in pursuit at a much faster gait. By the time the 
first had reached the edge of the cliff the second 
was reaching for him. 

Uttering a cry of alarm the foremost eluded 
his pursuer. He leaped in desperation far out 
over the water, dropped swiftly downward, and 
disappeared in the sea. An instant later the 
“ Screamer ” reached the spot where he had 
vanished. 

Sumner reversed the propeller, and Val, picking 
up a boathook, awaited the reappearance of the 
jumper. He came to the top in a few seconds, 
coughing and sputtering. Val hooked him by the 
shirt, towed him alongside, and helped him on 
board. The man on shore, a wild-eyed fellow of 
rough appearance, when he saw the outcome of 
the affair turned and hurried back into the 
woods. 

And then the boys discovered that the man they 
had rescued was no less a person than Hixon, 


262 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“ Whew! ” gasped the watersoaked fellow, 
when he had spewed out the brine taken in during 
his immersion, “ but that was a close shave for 
me. I lost my vest with a fifty-dollar gold watch 
and a hundred dollars in bills, too,” he added 
ruefully. 

“ Was that what you had in your hand.? ” in- 
quired Sumner, as he started the “ Screamer ” 
on her course again. 

“Yes, hang it, and I let it go the minute I hit 
the water. Don’t you see it anywhere ’round.? ” 
And Hixon gazed anxiously at the spot where he 
had jumped in for signs of his missing garment, 
but to no pimpose. 

“ I’m no swimmer, and that crazy hyena scared 
me just about out of my wits. He must be the 
same one that chased me last night. 

“ Say, you ain’t going to run off without giving 
me a chance to find my vest, are you? ” he con- 
tinued, appealingly, as the boat got under 
way. 

Sumner slowed down. 

“ Shall we put him ashore? ” he asked, turning 
to Val.‘ 

“ Heavens, don’t land me there again! ” pro- 
tested Hixon. “ Can’t you head in nearer and 
let me have a look? ” 

“ We’re under no obligations to you, Hixon,” 
snapped Val, with unusual asperity. “ I think 
we’ll just take you along to camp, and you can 


HIXON BUTTS IN 263 

tell us where that paper is you stole this morn- 
ing.” 

Hixon’s face showed surprise. He sat back 
limply, while the motor-boat started full speed 
for the cove. Conversation was suspended. 
Sumner attended strictly to steering, while Val 
busied himself about the engine, and with other 
matters pertaining to the boat. 

As they approached the cove they saw Jim 
standing on the outermost point of rock, fishing. 
As they rounded in he gave a mighty tug and 
landed a flopping cunner. 

“ Hooray! Caught seven already! ” he an- 
nounced. “ Who in creation have you got there ” 

“ The burglar that stole the cipher,” shouted 
Sumner. “ Come on up to camp; we’re going to 
have a trial.” 

Jim reeled in his line, picked up the fish, and 
hurried after. When the “ Screamer ” came to 
anchor Carroll was on shore to receive them. 
He had been hunting the cross, also, but without 
success. 

In his wet clothes Hixon was a sorry-looking 
object, but he offered no objection to going ashore, 
and went up to camp willingly enough. Presently 
he began to talk about the vest with the gold 
watch and hundred dollars that he had lost; it 
seemed to worry him a great deal, as indeed it 
might if his story were true. 

'‘Now cut out that vest business for a minute 


264 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


and tell us what you did with the paper you stole 
this morning while we were all asleep,” said Val, 
sharply. 

“ I don’t know what you are talking about,” 
was the reply. 

“ Look here,” said Val, “ we know you don’t 
work for the granite company, and that you do 
work for Field, and that he wants that paper. 
Parker had the paper in his pocket last night and 
this morning it’s gone; and someone was rummag- 
ing the tent while you -were in camp and we were 
asleep. Now what can you say to that? ” 

Hixon looked searchingly at Val. He saw that 
the young man was very much in earnest, and 
that trifling longer was useless. 

“ I’ll tell you all about it if you’ll do one thing,” 
said he, after a moment’s thought. 

“ What’s that? ” inquired Carroll. 

“ Take me up where I jumped off the rocks and 
help me And my vest. If you’ll do that I’ll tell 
what I know; if you won’t I sha’n’t say a word.” 

“ If you know anything at all about the paper 
you know you took it,” remarked Jim, sagely. 
“ That’s all there is to know, anyway, except 
where it went to.” 

“ Why did you take it? ” Val demanded. 

‘‘ Field made me,” admitted Hixon, grudgingly. 

“ That’s just what we thought,” exclaimed 
Sumner. “ I guess the lock-up is about the best 
place for you — ” 


HIXON BUTTS IN 


265 


“ But it hasn’t done him or anybody else any 
good yet,” Hixon asserted. He had peeled off 
his shirt, and was wringing it dry as best he could. 

“ Why not? ” 

“ He hasn’t seen it yet.” 

“ Where is it, then? ” 

“ In a pocket of that vest I lost,” was the sur- 
prising declaration. 

The boys began to breathe more easily. If 
this were true the theft didn’t amount to anything 
after all. 

“ Oh, well,” remarked Jim after a moment’s 
consideration, “ I guess it’s better off to stay 
there.” 

“ Now look here,” said Hixon, earnestly; “ I 
want that watch and money bad. I don’t believe 
you’ll miss the paper if Field doesn’t get hold of 
it,” was his shrewd guess, “ but I’ll give you fifty 
dollars — half the money — if you’ll get the vest 
back for me.” 

“ Anyone care to accept the offer? ” inquired 
Val, quizzically. Hixon was a slippery customer. 
Very likely both watch and money might be 
purely imaginary. 

“ Sum and I might make a try for it,” said Cal, 
after asking a question or two. “ Maybe that vest 
is somewhere along the shore, and if it is we can 
see if the cipher is in it, anyway.” Carroll did 
not take much stock in the watch and money 
story either. 


266 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“All right, then, Hixon,” said Val. “Well 
take a look for yonr vest. Step down to the cove, 
will you, and some of us will come in a minute.” 

When the fellow had walked out of hearing 
Val and Sumner related the results of their trip 
to the Landing, and exhibited the paper obtained 
from Mr. Killen. 

“ Now when that scamp comes to put us off 
well give him a dose of his own medicine,” de- 
clared Val, “ and as he’s likely to appear at al- 
most any time I must be here. Jim and I can 
hold the fort,” he added, “ and we’ll do a little 
carpentering while you’re gone.” 

The “ Screamer’s ” freight was put ashore, and 
she started on the search for the vest, taking 
Cal, Sum, and Hixon, but leaving the tender at 
camp. 

Then Val and Jim began making the furniture. 
In the open space beneath the awning they drove 
into the ground three pairs of stakes at suitable 
distances, leaving them about two and a half feet 
high. Across from top to top of each pair they 
nailed a strip of board. Then across these three 
supports was fastened a double length of boards, 
and the dining-table was completed. 

A similar table for cooking operations was con- 
structed near by. For a dish-closet they nailed 
a box to a tree, and placed another inside the 
tent to hold various kinds of provisions. Still 
another box served as a stand for the blue-flame 


HIXON BUTTS IN 


267 


stove. Between two trees a shelf was nailed, and 
when a water-pail and tin wash-basin were placed 
on it, the washroom was in commission. A line 
was strimg up to hold towels. The camp was 
now ready for occupancy. 

“ And now do you know how to bait that lob- 
ster trap.^ ” asked Val. 

“ Siurely I do. I didn’t spend a month down at 
Codville last summer for nothing,” Jim declared. 
” Just let me get some of those cunners I caught 
and I’ll show you a thing or two.” 

The lobster trap was — as many of you are 
doubtless aware — about as big as a trunk, and 
looked like a crate, for it was made of laths fas- 
tened to three D-shaped frames, the flat side of 
the D being at the bottom. Each end of the trap 
was covered with a coarse twine network which 
formed a sort of tunnel in toward the middle 
of the affair, ending in a round hole, or “ funny- 
eye,” a few inches in diameter, through which 
the lobster would enter the trap to eat the bait 
placed inside. In the top was a door of lathing 
with leather hinges and a fastening button, while 
sticking up inside from the bottom was an iron 
spear with a barbed tip. 

Jim took three cunners, cut their throats, and 
impaled them on the spear. 

“ There’s the bait for Mr. Lobster,” he remarked 
as he closed and fastened the door, “ and now 
we’re ready to set the trap.” 


268 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


They put it aboard the tender, and rowed a 
short distance out of the cove. 

“ This is a good place,” was Jim’s annotmce- 
ment, at length, and they put the trap over the 
side and allowed it to sink to the bottom of the 
sea, which was here twenty or thirty feet deep. 
The trap was weighted with stones, so that it 
sank readily ; while attached to it was a stout line 
long enough to reach to the surface, where it 
was tied to a wooden float. 

“ This is rocky bottom here, and that’s where 
they feed, I believe,” said Jim, as they headed 
back to shore. “ To-morrow morning we’ll go 
out and pull it up, and here’s hoping there’ll be 
a dozen in it.” 

“ How many do they generally catch at a time 
in one trap? ” asked Val, as they entered the cove. 

Padgett down at Codville used to tell about 
getting traps so full it took two men to lift ’em, 
but the most I ever saw him get was a dozen. 
It all depends on how often you pull the trap — ” 

“ And how plenty the lobsters are,” laughed 
Val. 

” If we And six in the morning we’ll be lucky — 
who’s that? ” Jim heard a crackling in the bushes 
at the top of the bank as they landed. They 
glanced quickly up. 

“ Gee! ” remarked Jim. Here’s Sanders! ” 


CHAPTER XV 


CARROLL MAKES A FIND AND JIM STANDS GUARD 

Sanders’ face wore an unpleasant frown. He 
strode up to Val, who looked at him with a good 
deal of curiosity, as he had heard so much about 
him. “ Who’s the captain of this outfit? ” he 
demanded. 

“ I am,” said Val, trying to speak pleas- 
antly. 

” Oh, you are, are you? ” retorted the man, 
with much acidity. “ Didn’t I warn you fellows 
to get off this land by this forenoon? ” 

” I guess so — somebody did,” was the cheerful 
rejoinder. “ Won’t you come up to the camp and 
sit down and be comfortable, Mr. Sanders? ” in- 
quired Val with apparent solicitude. ” It’s rather 
warm to-day, and it must be hot work walking 
through the woods from the po’gy factory.” 

No, sir; I can do my business right here on 
my feet, and it won’t take me but one minute 
to do it, either,” declared Sanders, belligerently, 
in his excitement disregarding the suggestiveness 
of Val’s remark. “ What I want to know is, why 
269 


270 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


don’t you get out? Didn’t I tell you plain 
enough? Have I got to drive the idea in with a 
mallet? ” 

The man was plainly working himself up into 
a rage, evidently thinking that by such procedure 
he could the more easily intimidate the boys. 
He came closer to Val and shook a fist in that 
young man’s face. 

“ Just bear one thing in mind,” said Val, seizing 
the other’s wrist in a muscular grip and forcing 
down the outstretched arm, “and that is: you 
can keep your fist away from my nose. We aren’t 
a particle afraid of you, and whatever your pur- 
pose may be in coming here, you can’t gain any- 
thing by trying to frighten us. Now lower your 
voice and talk sense.” 

A look of pained surprise flashed over Sanders’ 
face when Val gripped his wrist, and he now re- 
treated a step and spoke with more respect. 

“ Why don’t you get off this land, as I told you 
to? ” he asked in a lower tone. 

“We don’t get off for one very good reason,” 
was Val’s reply. “ We investigated your state- 
ments, and find that while it is true that Charles 
Vinal owns Whale Island, yet at the same time 
he has no control over it as it is leased to the 
Blue Hill Granite Company. Mr. Killen, the 
general manager of the company, has given us 
a permit to camp here as long as we wish to, and 
has asked us to report to him if you make any 


CARROLL MAKES A FIND 271 


more fuss. So if you are still looking for trouble, 
I will respectfully refer you to Mr. Killen.” 

But Sanders would not be backed down so 
easily. 

“ Let’s see that permit,” he demanded. 

” No, sir! It’s none of your business. You’re 
no more an agent of Charles Vinal than I am! ” 

” Let me tell you,” cried the fellow, his voice 
rising high with the rage that possessed him at the 
turn affairs were taking, “ that permit ain’t 
worth the paper it’s written on.” 

“ It’s good enough for us, and that’s all there 
is to it,” replied Val, firmly. “ We’ll stay here 
h,s long as we please.” 

“ No, it ain’t all there is to it, not by a darned 
sight,” retorted Sanders, with a menacing look. 
“You young fools are altogether too fresh. You 
think you own the earth, but let me tell you that 
if you keep on staying where you ain’t wanted 
this place will mighty soon get too hot for you! ” 

“ Who wants us to get out but Field? ” asked 
Val, with pointed emphasis. And as the fellow 
paused, at a loss for a reply — caught off his 
guard, — Val quickly followed up his advantage. 

“ Put this in your pipe and smoke it,” said he 
sharply. “ We know who you are and all about 
you. You are Field’s foreman over at the po’gy 
factory — and Field is trying to force us off the 
island. You and Pike and Hixon and the others 
are helping him. 


272 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“ Go back to yo\ir boss and tell him it won't 
go. We are on to him, and if he wants a fuss he 
can find it right here. No — you needn’t say 
another word — ” as Sanders started on a tirade, 
“ and you can get out of this camp, too, and stay 
out. We've seen and heard enough of you! ” 

“ Yes, too darned much,” broke in Jim, who 
had been a silent auditor of most of the conversa- 
tion, but at the last had stolen up to the tent, 
and as quietly returned bringing with him his 
rifle, a Winchester 32 repeater. 

Sanders turned at this unexpected outburst, 
and when he saw Jim coming with nervous haste 
toward him, the rifle held in a suggestive position, 
he backed away apprehensively. 

” Oh, I’ll go — I’ll go,” he said. “ Don’t shoot,” 
and he hit a lively clip for the head of the cove, 
but as he went his courage returned, and with it 
some of his wrath. 

” I’ll go,” he announced again with much more 
assurance, “ but when I come back you’ll wish 
you had never seen Whale Island. I’ll fix you 
yet,” he loudly declared, shaking a fist vigorously 
now that Jim showed no inclination to shoot. 
“ By the jumping jingoes, you fellows will be a 
sick looking lot when I get through with you! ” 
And with this dire threat he disappeared, but 
neither Val nor Jim seemed to be worried. 

” Exit Mr. Sanders,” said Val as he flung himself 
into a chair, while Jim grinned and sat down too. 


CARROLL MAKES A FIND 273 


“ Gee, whiz! ” he exclaimed, it’s exciting 
enough ’round here, but we aren’t any nearer 
the treasure than when we landed.” 

At that instant the “ Screamer’s ” chime 
sounded, and through the trees they saw her 
swing into the cove. Val and Jim reached the 
water’s edge just as Carroll began calling for the 
tender. 

” Did you get the vest? ” asked Jim as he rowed 
out. 

“ Where’d you drop Hixon? ” added Val, no- 
ticing that the man was not on board. 

“ Oh, we just put him ashore and told him never 
to show his homely face ’round here again,” said 
Sumner. 

“ Good riddance,” said Val, “ but did you 
get — ” 

“ Yes, did you find the vest? ” interrupted Jim, 
eagerly. 

“ And did you get the fifty? ” from Val. “ We 
want to see the color of that money.” 

” Fifty grandmothers,” exclaimed Carroll, im- 
patiently, as having locked the “ Screamer’s ” 
companion and made snug he swung into the ten- 
der. “ We didn’t get the vest, but we did find 
something worth a thousand of it! ” 

And now it was patent to Val and Jim that both 
Carroll and Sumner were fairly bursting with 
excitement over something. They refused to say 
another word till camp was reached, and then, 


274 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


after looking about in all directions with an 
exaggerated air of caution, Carroll said: 

“ Hulloo; I see you’ve furnished the camp.” 

“Bother the furniture,” cried Jim, with im- ' 
patience. “What did you find? Out with it, 
quick! ” 

“We found the cross! ” 

After the sensation produced by this announce- 
ment had somewhat subsided Carroll and Sumner 
told the story of the search for Hixon’s vest. 

“ We ran up to where he jumped off into the 
water,” began Carroll. “ You remember the 
shore is bold there, so we could run in close. I 
got into my bathing trunks, for I expected to have 
to do some diving. Then we shut off the engine 
and let her drift with the tide.” 

“ ’Twas'just like looking for a needle in a hay- 
stack,” Sumner asserted. 

“ Only worse,” Carroll corroborated. “ Of 
course we didn’t look for the vest on top of the 
water, loaded down with a fifty-dollar gold watch 
and a wallet with a hundred dollars in it — fact 
is, I don’t know exactly how or where we did 
expect to find it; but Hixon seemed to think it 
might have stranded in some shallow place, so we 
drifted and kept our eyes peeled.” 

“We were all hanging over the side, and Cal and 
I each had a boat-hook,” Sumner explained. 

“ Presently we came to a curve in the shore that 
looked to be a likely place for the tide to wash up 


CARROLL MAKES A FIND 275 


that missing garment; and, sure enough, the 
water grew shallower till I could almost see the 
bottom,” went on Carroll. “ It’s protected there 
by those small islands off-shore, so there was 
hardly any swell, and we got right in close, almost 
within touching distance of the high rocks.” 

“ And Cal got so interested in what he thought 
he was going to see on the bottom — ” broke in 
Sumner. 

“I almost saw the fifty dollars,” Carroll 
laughed. 

“ — that he leaned over too far and fell in 
head-first, and went down like a stone,” finished 
Sumner. 

“ Just about six feet down, I guess,” said Car- 
roll. “ The rocks must be awash there at low tide ; 
and I put out my hands to keep from hitting bot- 
tom, not knowing just how deep it was. I grabbed 
something metallic. Of course I was thinking of 
the vest, and for an instant thought I had struck 
a piece of a wreck. Then it flashed over me that 
this might be the cross, that it might have been 
set on the edge of the cliff; that the cliff might 
have cracked and the piece holding the cross 
split off and fallen into the water — frost will do 
such things, you know — so I just held my breath 
as long as I could and felt that thing over. And 
boys,” he declared with strong emphasis, “you 
can shoot me if it isn’t a cross, lying there in a 
horizontal position on the bottom.” 


276 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“ How big? ” asked Val, his eyes wide open 
with interest. 

“ I couldn’t tell how high it might stand, but 
the arm was about two feet long. I gave it a tug 
and it wouldn’t move, so I’m sure it is bedded in 
a piece of rock — a piece that fell with it, just as I 
explained.” 

“ When he came up he had forgotten all about 
the vest,” laughed Sumner, “ and he stayed down 
so long I began to get anxious for fear he had 
struck his head and hurt himself. I had made 
up my mind to peel off and go in after him when 
up he came and we pulled him aboard. And he 
was as mum as a clam.” 

“ Of course I was, with Hixon there,” explained 
Carroll. “ Then I told him I guessed his vest was 
a goner and it wasn’t any use to look for it any 
more. He got hot and insisted that we ought to 
keep right on hunting; but I couldn’t see it — I 
was in a hurry to get a grapple on that cross and 
find out more about it — so I pretended to get 
mad, and we ran the ‘ Screamer ’ close to a low 
place on shore and told him to get, and he got! ” 

“ Do you think the cipher he stole was in the 
vest, after all? ” asked Val. 

“ I don’t know,” admitted Carroll, frankly. 
“ But let me tell you; while we were getting the 
‘ Screamer’s ’ head around that scamp danced up 
and down on the rocks and shook his fist at us and 
said all sorts of fool things. He vowed that the 


CARROLL MAKES A FIND 277 


cipher wasn’t in the vest at all — that Field had 
it, and was going to get ahead of us, and that 
they would mighty soon make this island too hot 
to hold us and we’d be sorry we ever camped 
here — ” 

“ Say, Jim, didn’t our friend Sanders say some- 
thing like that, too? ” remarked Val, breaking in. 

“Very much the same language; there really 
must be something in it, I’m afraid,” replied Jim, 
soberly. And then he told Sumner and Carroll 
about the visit of Sanders. 

“ I tell you, boys, it’s come to the point where 
we can’t go off and leave the camp alone,” Val 
declared. “ Field has evidently determined to 
drive us away in one way or another.” 

“ Why not move ever 3 rthing back on the 
‘ Screamer ’ and live on her instead of on shore? ” 
asked Sumner. 

“ Even then one of us would have to stay by 
her so long as she was anchored where they could 
get to her,” objected Carroll. “ If we’ve got to 
stand guard, let’s have the camp and the room and 
fresh air and be comfortable. A cruiser’s all 
right when you’re cruising and can’t expect any- 
thing bigger; but you know very well it’s not 
like a five-hundred room hotel.” 

“ Then let’s stick to the camp, draw lots to see 
who’ll stand guard first, and then take turns after- 
wards,” was Jim’s suggestion. “ Those men have 
surely got it in for us ; but we’ll stay here in spite 


278 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


of ’em till we’re positive whether there’s any 
treasure on the island or not.” 

This met the approval of the others ; and having 
thus laid down their future course of action they 
proceeded to get dinner and eat it. 

“ If you need help, fire three shots and we’ll 
come,” called Val, as the “ Screamer ” began to 
move leisurely out of the cove, carrying Val, Cal, 
and Sumner to the treasure hunt. 

Jim stood on the bank, and, though he nodded 
and smiled, was keenly disappointed, for the lot 
had fallen to him to stay behind and guard the 
camp. Though he was so eager to join in the hunt 
for the cross that he could almost have cried, yet 
he stood manfully by his own proposition, and 
waved his hand to the others as they glided away, 
carrying the paraphernalia of the search, and the 
row-boat trailing astern to be used in near-shore 
work. They rounded the northern point and dis- 
appeared, and Jim went up to camp, somewhat 
nervous, and apprehensive of coming disaster. 
Everything, however, was quiet and peaceful. 
There was no hint of trouble in the bright sun- 
light, the dancing shadows of the foliage, the 
dull wash of the swell alongshore. A locust was 
shrilling somewhere near at hand, but the birds 
that had been so lively in the morning made no 
sound. 

Jim, however, did not propose to be caught 


CARROLL MAKES A FIND 279 


napping. He got his rifle out from the tent, made 
sure that the magazine was filled, and placed the 
weapon in a convenient place of semi-concealment. 
Then he remembered that Val had a revolver, and 
foimd it after rummaging a little. Every chamber 
seemed to be loaded, so Jim shoved the weapon 
into a hip pocket, where it bulged prominently. 

Jim was naturally of a most peaceable dis- 
position; but he determined that if anyone ap- 
peared and tried to make a fuss he would do his 
best to frighten them off by a display of arms. 
In fact, Sanders had been so easily overawed that 
it seemed certain such a course would be suc- 
cessful. 

For a time he busied himself putting a few 
finishing touches on the rough furniture that had 
been made earlier in the day. Then he took the 
hatchet and went for firewood ; but before leaving 
the immediate vicinity of the camp he put the 
burglar alarm in commission again — for in the 
morning the cord had been taken up. He now 
replaced the line arotmd the camp, and set the 
switch. 

A sudden darkening of the sky at this time 
called his attention to the fact that the sun had 
become obscured, and, seeking the cause, he saw 
filmy streamers of fog hmrying in from the sea 
high overhead. 

There was a fallen pine down toward the shore, 
and he had not chopped at its branches more than 


280 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


five minutes before a thick bank of vapor drove in 
and enveloped ever3rthing. Jim, however, had 
seen sea-fogs before, and there being no sound of 
trouble from the camp he worked steadily on. 
He had carried one armful of sticks to the fire- 
place and returned for a second load when his ear 
caught the sound of voices off shore. The wind 
was blowing gently from the southeast, and this, 
coupled with the dampness, carried the soimds 
with great distinctness. He strained his ears to 
catch the fragments of conversation. “ Some- 
one’s sailing by,” he muttered. 

“ Where are we? ” he heard a loud voice ask, 
and under the conditions Jim knew the sound 
might come from a distance of a quarter of a mile, 
to say the least. 

There was a reply in an unintelligible grumble. 

“ Ashore? ” queried the loud voice. “ Ashore? 
What have you run us ashore for? Where’s 
Whale Island? ” 

Again the indistinct grumble. 

You don’t know? Somewhere around here? 
Why aren’t you sure? You certainly are a peach 
of a navigator! Confound this fog, I say! ” 

The loud tones were very distinct, but of the 
other part of the conversation Jim could not 
catch one word. 

“ Drop your hook, then,” decided the loud voice, 
at length, “ and we’ll wait till she lifts and we know 
where we’re at.” 


CARROLL MAKES A FIND 


281 


Next followed some orders, a hurrying of feet 
along the decks, a rattle of chain through the 
hawse-pipe and a splash as the anchor went down. 
Then the sails came down on the run, and after- 
ward was stillness. Whatever the stranded craft 
was, like a blanket the fog concealed it, along with 
all that part of Penobscot Bay. Jim turned and 
filled his arms again from the woodpile, and as 
he started for camp the electric bell began to 
ring. 

“Good gosh!” he exclaimed, hastening his 
steps. “ I’ll bet I’m up against it now, for fair! ” 
Almost instantly he broke into a run ; but had 
not covered half the distance when he heard a 
series of loud crashing blows ahead. 

“ Crash! Crash! Smash! ” 

“ Heavens, what can that be? ” thought Jim. 
He still held to the armful of wood, for after bring- 
ing it thus far he didn’t propose to abandon it. 
The bell continued ringing, and now another series 
of smashes sounded on the air. 

But now Jim had reached the outskirts of 
camp, and there in the centre of the place through 
the fog he saw the form of a large man vigorously 
swinging an axe. The dining table was a shattered 
ruin — that had suffered first. The cooking table 
had gone with the second lot of smashes. 

Smash! Again the axe swung, and down came 
the dish closet. Tin plates, cups, knives, forks 
and spoons flew in all directions. 


282 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


Then the man seized one of the chairs and flung 
it down the slope toward the cove. He picked up 
another and sent it hurtling after the first ; and by 
that time Jim Hilton reached the scene of trouble. 

Jim had never learned to swear, and he didn’t 
propose to begin now ; but he would have given 
a dollar for words to express the emotions that 
assailed him when he beheld the rapidly spreading 
desolation in camp! 

“You — you d-devil! ” he stuttered in his 
excitement, “ quit that! ” And without a mo- 
ment’s hesitation he began hurling his sticks of 
wood in rapid succession at the marauder, who, 
bent on the work of destruction, had not heard 
his approach, and now looked up in surprise. It 
was a large negro. 

The first stick of wood hit the back of his head ; 
the second neatly swiped an ear. Then as the 
negro turned to face Jim the third stick landed 
smash on his nose. Jim’s certainty of aim seemed 
to increase with his excitement. The fourth stick 
also hit the negro’s nose, and the fifth landed there 
likewise and made that member bleed profusely, 
while its owner became reckless with rage. 

He picked up the axe he had just dropped and 
with all his might laimched it at Jim, who, shout- 
ing in his excitement, was still throwing sticks of 
wood with excellent effect. But when Jim saw 
that axe coming his way he realized that the 
black man was in a murderous passion. For an 







HE BEGAN THROWING STICKS OF WOOD AT THE MARAUDER 




CARROLL MAKES A FIND 283 


instant his heart came into his throat. Then he 
deftly dodged, and the axe, missing him, struck 
the boulder at the back of the fireplace with 
vicious force, glanced, and flew out of sight 
among the trees. 

When he exhausted his supply of wood Jim 
began throwing the stones of the fireplace. He 
dodged successively the two other chairs that the 
negro threw at him, meantime maintaining a 
rapid shower of stones that took effect on various 
parts of the intruder’s anatomy. 

All this time the negro was cursing and swearing. 
Probably at first he had no feeling against the 
campers. Sanders had sent him to break up the 
camp, and, being of a lawless disposition, he did 
not hesitate to carry out his orders as a matter of 
business. He had found the camp deserted, and 
though the ringing of the electric bell had mystified 
him, it had not disconcerted nor deterred him 
from carrying out his errand. 

But now he found a personal enemy to reckon 
with. The axe and chairs had failed to accom- 
plish his purpose. Smarting from the blows of the 
wood and stones, and with blood trickling from 
his nose, in a frenzy of passion he drew a razor 
from the bosom of his shirt, opened it, and with a 
cry of rage rushed at Jim. 

And then Jim remembered the revolver. He 
didn’t want to kill anyone, neither did he propose 
to have that negro put him out of business, and 


284 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


the instinct of self-preservation stirred strongly 
within him. 

“ I must stop him — stop him — ” he muttered, 
involimtarily stepping back as the other ran for- 
ward, “or in about one second more I’ll be a 
goner! ” 

He pulled the revolver from his pocket, levelled 
it at the negro, and fired three shots in quick 
succession. 

It was over in a moment. Uttering a cry of 
astonishment and sudden fear, the negro dropped 
the razor, turned to run the other way, fell head- 
long, and lay grovelling amid the ruins of the 
dining-table. 


CHAPTER XVI 


RUNNING THE LINE 

The climax of the battle had come with startling 
suddenness. For a moment after the negro turned 
and fell, Jim stood with smoking revolver gazing 
blankly down at the prostrate form. Then he 
realized the electric bell was madly buzzing — 
had been doing so, in fact, all through the affray. 
Mechanically he stepped over and stopped it by 
opening the switch. His foot kicked an object 
half-hidden among the pine needles. With a 
shudder he recognized the open razor. He picked 
it up, closed it, and with a feeling of horror 
clutching at his heart threw it into the middle of 
the cove. 

All this took but the fraction of a minute. As 
he turned again to the grovelling negro there 
was a rustling among the bushes outside the 
camp, and then Sanders came up through the 
fog. 

** He’s got more nerve than I gave him credit 
for,” thought Jim, when he had made sure that 
it was the foreman of the po’gy factory who was 
285 


286 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


approaching. “ Perhaps, though, he thinks it’s 
the nigger that’s doing the shooting. 

“ Come here, you,” he called roughly, for the 
excitement of the conflict still controlled him. 
” You’re a cheap skate,” he went on, in scathing 
tones, as Sanders hesitatingly advanced, “ to send 
a big bull-dozer down here to do work you were 
scared to try to do yourself. Come here, or I’U 
fill your dirty hide so full of holes you’ll look like a 
porous plaster.” 

As he uttered these bloodthirsty words he 
levelled the revolver at Sanders, who obediently 
came up to where the negro was still lying. The 
latter was groaning and uttering exclamations 
of abject fear, while his hands clawed convul- 
sively at the dirt and pine needles. 

” For heaven’s sake,” ejaculated the foreman, 
paling, “ what does this mean? ” 

” It means that the bully and blackguard you 
sent to smash up this camp has got what’s coming 
to him. Now it’s up to you to take him back where 
he came from. Pick him up and carry him off, 
do you hear? You pick him up, and do it lively! 
There’s three shots left in this revolver, and after 
that there’s a rifle with sixteen in it! ” 

At heart Sanders was as big a coward as the 
negro. Awed by Jim’s manner, and the revolver 
which was aimed straight at him, he knelt beside 
the fallen man. 

“ Can’t you get up, Jack? ” he inquired, giving 


RUNNING THE LINE 287 

him a shake. “ Come! See if you can’t help 
yourself a little.” 

After some coaxing the negro found that he 
could stand; then half-dragged, half-supported, 
by Sanders, staggered off. As they were about 
to disappear among the bushes, the foreman turned 
and flung back a threat of wholesale destruction. 

“ All right,” returned Jim. “ If you’ve got any 
more at home like that, let ’em come on. We can 
handle every one of ’em! ’’ 

No one molested him further, but when, after 
awhile, his companions returned in answer to 
the three shots, they found him slumped down in 
a chair, immersed in gloomy thought. 

It was a merry party that sailed out of the cove 
to search for the treasure. As Jim had remarked 
to Val, they had found plenty of excitement ever 
since reaching Whale Island, but seemed to be 
no nearer their object than when they landed. 
Now, however, it really began to look as if they 
were on the right track — as if the cross was dis- 
covered. Running the line and finding the tilting 
rock — with whatever was beneath it — were now 
merely minor details to be quickly dispatched. 

It did not take the “ Screamer ” long to tra- 
verse the distance to the scene of Carroll’s dis- 
covery. The waters of the Bay were bright 
blue; of the fog that later enveloped ever3rthing 
there was no sign save a slight mistiness far out 


288 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


to sea. The eastern side of the island faced the 
main channel into west Penobscot Bay, and 
several vessels were in sight a mile or two offshore. 
A four-mast schooner was running free upchannel, 
and a tug with a string of empty barges that sat 
high on the water was slowly growing small in 
the distance down toward Matinicus. All these 
things they noted with interest as the motor- 
boat puffed swiftly along ; and as they looked and 
talked in a desultory manner about various 
affairs, around the southern end of Whale Island 
came a steam vessel, rounded to the northward, 
and passed slowly some distance out. 

“ There goes the revenue cutter ‘ Woodbury,’ ” 
remarked Sumner, as he caught sight of the white 
hull. 

“ Running for Rockland, maybe,” responded 
Val, carelessly. ” I say, Sum, what do you think 
the tilting rock looks like? ” 

” I think it’s a big boulder about as tall as I 
am,” was the positive reply. 

” How can you tilt a rock of that sort ? It would 
weigh a couple of tons,” Carroll objected. 

” I was in the country once where they showed 
me a big balanced rock out in a pasture,” explained 
Sumner. ” It was ten feet high, but it stood 
balanced on a little flat face there was on it, and 
by pushing it you could make it jiggle. Now I 
believe this tilting rock is something like that — 
not so large, of course. They cut a hole in the 


RUNNING THE LINE 


289 


ledge and put the box in it; then they set this 
tilting rock over the hole, and when we find it 
we’ll just give it a little pry and it will roll off the 
face it sets on and rest on another. Then if we 
want to put it back, just pry the other way and it 
will tip back and cover the hole.” 

“ I see you’ve got it all planned out,” laughed 
Val. “I guess my idea is something like yours. 
What do you think. Cal.? ” 

“ I don’t pretend to know a thing about it,” 
said Cal, conservatively. “ When we find it we’ll 
know all about it ; and if you will just shut off the 
engine we’ll anchor. This is where I found the 
cross.” 

Over went the anchor, and the “ Screamer ” 
swung in the tide, now beginning to ebb. Carroll 
began to disrobe. 

“ Sure this is the place? ” asked Val, as he 
scanned the face of the rocky shore. 

“ Certain,” Carroll replied. “ See that recess 
in the line of the cliff where it looks as if a piece 
had split off? ” 

The place mentioned was in plain sight. 

“ I figure that is where the cross used to stand, 
and that the piece of rock it was set in split off 
and fell into the water.” 

“ Then what’s the use of raising the cross? ” 
Val wanted to know. “ Keep your clothes on, 
old man. We’ll start from the edge of the rock 
where it’s split off, allow a little for the thickness 


290 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


of the break, and run our line just as if the cross 
was standing there. It’s going to be a good deal of 
guess-work and luck, running out the line, any- 
way,” he continued, “ and I think we’ll be a great 
deal better off to leave the cross where it is.” 

“ For one thing Field won’t know where it is,” 
exclaimed Sumner, “ and we won’t care whether 
he’s got the whole cipher or not so long as the cross 
is hidden.” 

This seemed like a sensible idea, so they decided 
to adopt it, and to land at once and begin running 
out the line. Carroll resumed what clothes he 
had already taken off, and they all went ashore in 
the rowboat, taking the crowbar, the compass, and 
the tape line. Besides these things they had a 
camera tripod of Carroll’s, and an affair which he 
called a sighting-board to use in conjunction with 
the compass. This board was about six inches 
wide and eighteen inches long, and could be 
screwed to the top of the tripod just as one would 
attach a camera. A straight line ran from end to 
end of the board along its middle, and at each 
end of the line a wooden pin like a skewer was 
fastened in an upright position, each pin having 
a groove cut across its top in the same direction as 
the line. To go with this apparatus they had a 
slender pole some six feet long, pointed at one end 
so it could be easily driven into the ground. 

After securing the tender, the boys took their 
apparatus to the edge of the cliff where the frag- 


RUNNING THE LINE 


291 


merit had broken off. Then Carroll set up the 
tripod as near the edge as he conveniently could, 
close to the place where they decided the cross had 
stood. He fastened the sighting-board in place, 
and laid the compass upon it so that it occupied 
the centre. Then he turned the board until the 
line on it coincided with the marks on the compass 
card that denoted southwest. 

“ So far so good,” he remarked, when this had 
been done, “and now we must decide whether 
to go southwest by compass, or southwest by 
actual direction.” 

This was a subject that had been discussed 
several times, but never definitely decided — in 
fact, it seemed it would have to be determined by 
actual trial. The problem was this: did the 
originator of the ciphers run out his line by com- 
pass, — magnetic north — or did he run it by true 
north.? True north, the direction of that point 
we call the north pole, is practically fixed, unvary- 
ing in its location ; but magnetic north — that 
mysterious place where the great natural magnet 
earth marshals the hidden force that attracts 
the point of the compass, is always moving, and 
seldom coincides with true north. Coast survey 
charts provide for this difference between north 
by compass and true north, and state for the 
information of the mariner the exact variation 
between the two at certain dates, and the annual 
increase or decrease in the variation. 


292 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“ This year,” remarked Val, “ I see by the chart 
that the variation in this part of the Bay is about 
fourteen degrees west — that is, the compass 
points fourteen degrees west of true north; and 
let me tell you something else. Suppose we run 
out a line three hundred and twenty paces of 
three feet each, which means nine hundred and 
sixty feet. If we run out two lines of that length, 
one true southwest, and the other by compass, the 
ends of them will be over two hundred and thirty 
feet apart. So you see what a slim chance there 
is of hitting the rock the first time, no matter how 
we run it.” 

Sumner, who had struggled with this question 
till he felt thoroughly at home with it, now inter- 
posed. 

“ Seems to me,” he said, “ we’d be foolish to 
run the line by compass. We don’t know how long 
ago the treasure was buried, so we can’t tell what 
magnetic north was then. Let’s run it out by true 
north as near as we can, and see what happens.” 

“ Well, for goodness’ sake, let’s run some kind 
of a line quick,” said Carroll, impatiently, “ or 
we won’t do it this afternoon. I’m thinking we’ll 
be lost in the fog pretty soon.” 

And sure enough, fog was drifting in overhead, 
and the sea to the southeast was obscured. 

Carroll shifted his sighting board so that the 
line coincided with marks on the compass card 
fourteen degrees further north than the compass 


RUNNING THE LINE 


293 


southwest — southwest by compass being four- 
teen degrees farther south than real southwest, 
and they began operations in earnest. They 
allowed a few feet for the break caused by the 
splitting off of the rock, and while Val held one 
end of the tape line close to the tripod, Sumner, 
with the other end and carrying the pole, walked 
ahead in a direction indicated by Carroll till he 
reached the end of the hundred foot tape. Then 
Carroll sighted through the grooves in the upright 
pegs of the board and told Sumner exactly where 
to plant the sharpened pole. The shore here 
was sparsely wooded near the water — bayberry 
bushes and stunted evergreens were interspersed 
with jtmiper and other low growths — so when 
the end of the tape was first reached Sumner was 
in plain view. Carroll, therefore, did not have 
to move his tripod; but Val moved along to 
the pole and took that position while Sumner 
took the pole and moved forward again as before 
to the end of the tape, when Carroll again sighted 
across the pegs and told him where to make his 
second stand. This brought Sumner into the 
edge of the larger growth of trees, and Carroll 
took up the tripod and moved it to the end of 
the two hundred feet now run out. It was a 
rough method — only approximately accurate — 
and they found it impossible now to go more 
than a hundred feet at a time without moving 
the tripod and compass forward. There was 


294 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


not a vestige of a path, and often large trees 
interfered with the sighting, while tangled under- 
brush made walking difficult. Frequently it was 
necessary to move forward in fifty or twenty- 
five foot lengths on account of the trees, but they 
kept steadily advancing, and to their surprise 
and gratification found presently that they were 
moving upward along the bottom of a shallow 
gully or ravine, not perceptible from the shore, 
whose direction was precisely the one they wished 
to take, and which offered the most easy access 
inland. A trifling variation would have sent 
them out of this gully, trailing over a rough and 
rockstrewn hillside. Elated by what seemed an 
indication of good judgment on their part in 
starting as they had, they pressed forward in 
spite of all obstacles, making every move with 
all the care possible with their crude apparatus, 
until they had reached a distance of eight himdred 
feet from the starting point. 

“ Right here,” said Val, when they had come 
together on the spot, “ is the end of three hundred 
and twenty paces of two and a half feet each. 
Does anyone see any sign of a tilting rock? ” 

They stood in a little open spot. There was 
plenty of outcropping ledge, but nowhere within 
sight was there a rock that would fulfil any 
conception of a tilting rock. 

“ Then it’s onward for us, to nine hundred and 
sixty feet/’ announced Val. And they were off 


RUNNING THE LINE 


295 


again, but before they had fairly started in 
swooped the fog and made it impossible to see 
twenty feet with accuracy. But it would take 
more than fog to stop them now. Though every 
time they shortened the length of line measured 
the chance of error increased, still they persisted. 
Ten feet at a time, fifteen feet at a time, some- 
times twenty feet, on they went. Now they came 
into a grove of large hardwood trees, and then, to 
their great surprise, the end of a line of nine 
hundred and fifty feet from the starting point 
brought them up against the front door of an old 
and dilapidated house, which stood there hemmed 
in by the forest, its paneless windows staring 
blankly out on the foggy solitude. 

Built of wood, the house was between thirty 
and forty feet square, and a story and a half 
high. Here and there the weather-worn clap- 
boarding had cracked and broken away, revealing 
the rough boarding underneath. The long slope 
of roof showed little except boards, for the hand- 
made shingles, split long ago from “ pumpkin 
pine,” that once made it rain tight, had rotted 
and fallen off, or been blown away by fierce 
gales. From the middle of the ridge protruded 
a chimney, fully six feet square, that spoke loudly 
of large fireplaces and brick ovens. 

“ Val Brandon,” exclaimed Sumner, “ I’ll bet 
my hat this is the old house in the woods that 
you heard about on the po’gy boat.” 


296 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


He stepped up on the broad stone door-step, 
and tried the latch of the door, which, weather- 
beaten like everything else, hung sagging from 
its hinges as though mere existence was a burden. 
It yielded and creaked open, and with curiosity 
written deep on their faces the trio entered the 
old house. 

The interior of the building was more dismal 
than the outside. The front door opened into a 
square entry occupying the space in front of the 
chimney. Out of this to right and left doors 
opened, one leading into a living-room that ran 
from front to back of the house. In this was a 
tremendous fireplace that would easily accom- 
modate double-length cordwood — it was, in fact, 
a small room of itself. On the other side of the 
house were two rooms ; the one in front probably 
intended for a bedroom, and the one at the back 
for a kitchen. The odd thing about this latter 
room was that while there was not a vestige of 
furniture in any other, in this a rusty old cook- 
stove had been set up with funnel pointing into 
the throat of the fireplace there, and a table 
stood near, with a pail of water, a bag of flour, 
some vegetables, a few tin dishes and a knife 
and fork or two upon it. 

“ Here’s signs of life, all right,” remarked Jim. 
“ What can this mean? I guess we’d better clear 
out, for maybe someone’s living here.” 

The rooms had once been plastered, but count- 


RUNNING THE LINE 


297 


less rains, which the leaky roof had done little to 
keep out, had softened and caused the plaster to 
fall till now walls and ceilings were well-stripped, 
and the floors were littered with the d6bris. 

There were still two doors leading out of the 
living-room to be explored. One opened into 
a dark cellarway ; the other up-stairs. As Val was 
about to open this latter door, the boys were 
astonished to hear footsteps cross the floor over 
their heads, and begin to descend the stairs. 
For an instant they stood regarding one another 
in surprised indecision and wonder, and then a 
man opened the door and stepped hurriedly into 
the room — a man clad in a suit of dark blue 
serge, much wrinkled and torn in places, his hair 
uncombed, his face stubbly from lack of shaving, 
his whole aspect one of untidiness and ill-care. 

He regarded the three boys for a moment with 
unconcealed surprise; his eyes gleamed brightly, 
and shifted constantly in their sockets. One 
after the other he scrutinized the trio. Then he 
approached Val, and with an air of acquaintance- 
ship held out his hand and said, 

“ How do you do? I am very glad to see you.’' 
“You certainly have the advantage of me,” 
said Val, touching the dirt-begrimed hand gin- 
gerly, though something about the fellow seemed 
to stir a chord of recollection. “ Whom have I 
the pleasure of addressing? ” 

“ I used to be the man in the moon,” was the 


298 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


answer, given very seriously, “ but now I am the 
King of Whale Island.” 

“ It’s engineer Marshall of the ‘ Sea Rover,’ 
boys,” exclaimed Val, in amazement. “ How do 
you suppose he got out of Augusta asylum and 
came back here? ” 

“ Why do you always call me Marshall? ” 
demanded the fellow petulantly. “ I tell you I 
am not Marshall. I am the King of WTiale Island.” 

Val turned to his companions. 

“ There’s not the least doubt about it,” he 
said, in a low tone. “ This fellow is Marshall, 
the crazy engineer of the steam-yacht, who ran 
us ashore in the cove last summer. Somehow or 
other he has escaped from the asylum and come 
back here.” 

Val stepped close to the insane man, looked 
him fixedly in the eyes, and said, clearly and 
incisively : 

Just one year ago you were engineer Marshall 
of the steam-yacht ‘ Sea Rover.’ Engineer 
Marshall of the ‘ Sea Rover,’ ” he repeated. 

Can’t you remember? ” 

The other listened attentively, but shook his 
head. 

“No,” he said, simply, “ I can’t remember.” 

“ Try to recall,” urged Val. “ Try hard to 
remember. The ' Sea Rover ’ was running for 
Tower Island — she was in a terrible storm — 
you were the engineer, Marshall — you slipped 


RUNNING THE LINE 


299 


and fell on the stoke-hole steps, and hit your 
head. Look, there is the scar now,” and Val 
pointed to a livid scar near the man’s right 
temple. 

“ Can’t you remember all that? ” persisted 
Val. 

The demented man passed a hand over his fore- 
head and a mental struggle wrinkled his brow in 
a frown, but he finally shook his head once more. 

“ Don’t you remember Major Bangs? ” de- 
manded his interrogator, not yet ready to give 
up, “ or Captain Jones — the mate Bruce — Fen- 
derson, the deckhand? ” 

As Val mentioned the last name a gleam of 
understanding flashed over the lunatic’s face. 

“ I know Fenderson very well,” he replied, 
quite calmly, “ but he calls himself Pike now. 
He is the mate of the po’gy boat ‘ Dorabelle.’ 
But these other things you speak about — why 
do you bother me with things that never hap- 
pened — things that aren’t so?” He flared up 
with sudden heat, and his eyes flashed. “ I am 
not Marshall. I am the king of this island; but 
there is a conspiracy on foot to invade my island,” 
he asserted, “and it keeps me on the alert — 
constantly on the alert, here and there, by day 
and by night, creeping about and listening — 
listening. And sometimes I chase the conspirators 
when they come too near my palace,” he waved 
his hand about the dilapidated room. 


300 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“ And once,” he went on, in a reminiscent 
tone, “ I saw one of the chief conspirators walking 
below the cliffs, and I threw down a rock at him ; 
and the conspiracy came near being ended then 
and there; but some men in a launch called to 
him and saved his life.” 

“ Lordy,” whispered Sumner, “ so he’s the 
fellow that tried to brain Captain Field! Say, 
he’s plumb nutty, all right, and mighty dan- 
gerous! ” 

“ Hush up, you kid,” Carroll nudged him 
sharply. “ Listen! ” 

“ What is this conspiracy? ” Val asked, curious 
to know the latest vagary of the unfortunate 
man. 

A crafty gleam lighted Marshall’s eyes. 

“ Yesterday I heard them talking it over,” he 
asserted. “ Two weeks ago a fishing schooner 
left Newfoundland with forty Chinamen on 
board who were to be smuggled into the United 
States. Day before yesterday she was to trans- 
ship them on the high seas to another schooner — 
a yacht. To-day this yacht is due at Whale Island 
with the Chinamen. Heffler is the man’s name — 
Hefller is running the yacht and bringing the 
Chinamen, and he will land them at the cove near 
yom camp, and smuggle them into my island — 
into this very house,” he declared, with a dra- 
matic gesture. 

“ Who’s doing all this? ” eagerly questioned 


RUNNING THE LINE 


301 


Val, for recalling the conversation he had over- 
heard that night on the “ Dorabelle,” it began to 
look as if the ex-engineer was speaking the truth — 
though to be sure he might have woven with the 
truth a liberal amount of insane fancy. 

“ Field and Pike,” declared Marshall. “ San- 
ders, Hixon — ha, ha, my brave Hixon who runs 
from his own shadow — and Heffler. Just five 
at this end of it ; but besides them there are the 
people in Newfoimdland who get the Chinamen 
together there, and the big Chinese company 
that puts up money to get the men smuggled 
in.” 

“ There it is again — Heffler — ” said Carroll, 
reflectively. “ Remember what you heard on 
the ‘ Dorabelle.’ This may be true.” 

“ I swear it’s true,” said Marshall, emphatic- 
ally. 

“ What is the name of the schooner-yacht that 
will put in here, and what will they do with the 
Chinese after they land? ” demanded Val. 

“ I cannot tell the name of the yacht — I tried 
to find out and could not. But listen: to-night 
the Chinamen will be loaded on the ‘ Dorabelle ’ 
and carried away.” 

“ Where to? ” 

“ I will tell you. As soon as the forty Chinamen 
are on board they will start for Boston with a 
cargo of po’gy oil. At the head of the wharf in 
Boston where they will unload the steamer is 


302 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


a Chinese laundry, and the Chinamen will steal 
away from the steamer one or two at a time 
during the night time and go to the laundry, 
where they will be taken care of and sent to 
different parts of the country.” Marshall’s man- 
ner was earnest and solemn. There was now but 
slight trace of the nervous frenzy that had 
characterized him at the first. 

“ But I am still the King of Whale Island,” he 
declared, stoutly, “ and I will not have these 
forty Chinamen smuggled into my island. I call 
on you to assist me in keeping them out! ” 

“ All right, Mr. King,” said Val, gravely, 
“ we’ll do the best we can for you. I suppose we 
can find you here at the palace any time we 
wish? ” he went on. 

“ Any time you wish,” Marshall agreed, leading 
the way to the front door, and ushering out his 
guests. “ And now the audience is at an end. 
Good day.” He shut the door after them, and 
left the trio standing on the door-step in a most 
peculiar state of mind. And as they paused, each 
waiting for the other to speak, from the direction 
of camp, borne clearly on the wings of the south- 
east breeze, and intensified by the dampness of 
the fog, came the sound of three pistol shots. 

“ It’s the signal! ” cried Sumner, “ Jim’s in 
trouble! ” 

With one accord they gathered up their effects 
and hustled for the “ Screamer.” Once aboard 


RUNNING THE LINE 


303 


they had the anchor up in a jiffy, the engine was 
started, and back for camp they went as fast as 
the fog would permit. 

Arriving in the cove, they could hardly stop 
to drop the anchor before they all piled into the 
boat and went ashore. 

“ What’s the trouble, Jim? ” questioned Car- 
roll, anxiously, as he reached the camp slightly out 
of breath, and found the guard sitting dejectedly 
amid the ruins. 

“ For goodness’ sake, what has happened to 
this place? ” cried Val, surveying the havoc. 

“ Good gosh, Jim, it looks as if a cyclone had 
struck us! ” was Sumner’s exclamation. “ What 
is the matter? Did Sanders come back? ” 

“ Boys,” said Jim, very solemnly, and there 
were tears in his voice though his eyes were dry, 
“ I believe I have killed a man, and it’s terrible 
to think about.” 

“ Did you have to shoot? ” Carroll demanded. 
“ Tell us, old man.” 

Jim quickly outlined the story of the assault 
on the camp. “ He was a big negro, and he came 
at me with a razor.” 

Sumner shuddered audibly. 

“ I shot at him three times, and he fell in a heap. 
Then Sanders came and I made him carry him off,” 
added Jim dully. “ He could walk, but I’ll bet 
he’ll die just the same, and I’ll be to blame.” 

“ Did you fire your rifle or my revolver? ” 


304 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


asked Val as he quietly picked up his weapon 
from the ground where Jim had dropped it after 
the affray had ended. 

“ With the revolver. Oh, it was awful! ” 

And then to the astonishment of the others Val 
opened his mouth in a guffaw of merriment. 

“ Cheer up, Jim, old boy! ” he cried, as soon as 
he could control himself. “You only scared that 
negro half to death — you couldn’t possibly have 
shot him, for this is only loaded with blank car- 
tridges left over from Fourth of July! ” 


CHAPTER XVII 

A TRIP IN THE FOG 

Jim Hilton recovered rapidly from his fit of 
depression when he found he had been shooting 
with blank cartridges. The gloom in his face 
was quickly replaced by a smile of relief. His 
naturally elastic spirits came up with a bound, 
and he joined enthusiastically in the work of 
repairing the damage done by the negro. This, 
luckily, was confined wholly to the box-board 
furniture, and as there was still a supply of 
unused boards on hand it did not take long to 
patch things up as good as ever. It was for- 
tunate, though, for the safety of the food and 
clothing and the tent, that Jim had returned to 
camp when he did. Otherwise a good deal of 
damage might have been done. 

Jim listened with interest to the story of run- 
ning out the line; but when he heard about 
Marshall and the smuggling plot his eyes opened 
in amazement. 

“ That reminds me, fellows,” was his sudden 
ejaculation. “ Some kind of a boat went aground 
306 


306 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


right off here while you were gone. Now what do 
you bet she hasn’t got the Chinamen? ” 

It was the others’ turn to be interested as Jim 
related the conversation he had overheard while 
gathering wood. 

“You say this loud voice asked * Where’s 
Whale Island? ’ ” inquired Val, when he had 
concluded. Jim nodded. 

“ That may signify a good deal, and again it 
may mean nothing at all. But I think we’d better 
run out there and see who it is,” said Val, 
thoughtfully. 

“ In this fog? ” objected Carroll. “ We might 
get lost and be all night getting back, and never 
find the vessel either.” 

“I’m willing to take the chances, with a com- 
pass,” was the reply. “ This day’s work has 
cleared up a good many things,” Val continued. 
“ In the first place Cal located the cross, and it’s 
hidden where Field will never find it — except 
by the merest chance, as we did. So we don’t 
care whether he has the ciphers or not. 

“ Then again, we’ve been supposing all along 
that Field was trying to drive us away because he 
wanted to find the treasure himself. Well, he 
probably does want to find it, but if Marshall’s 
story is true Field’s chief reason for butting us is 
because these Chinese are due to reach here to-day, 
and he doesn’t want us around when they come.” 

“ Guess you can see as far through a grindstone 


A TRIP IN THE FOG 


307 


as anybody, old man,” agreed Carroll, while Jim 
and Sumner nodded their heads. “ But tell me, 
where does the profit come from in smuggling 
Chinese into the United States ? They all come in 
as poor as mice, and generally' go to work in 
laundries. I don’t see where the money comes 
from.” 

“ I can tell you,” Jim broke in. “I read about 
it in the papers that time the revenue officers 
were watching for the yacht ‘ Frolic ’ that smug- 
gled some Chinese into Providence awhile ago. 
They think there is a rich and powerful company 
or syndicate with agents all along the boundary 
between the United States and Canada, and down 
through Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. 
This company advances the money to pay for 
the smuggling, and every Chinese coolie that 
employs them to get him into the country pays 
five hundred dollars for the service — that is, 
the Chinaman agrees to pay this amount, and is 
kept in practical bondage to the company until 
he has earned and paid over the cash. That’s 
where the money comes from.” 

“ Forty coolies at five hundred apiece would be 
twenty thousand dollars for the bunch,” Val 
calculated. “ No wonder the company was will- 
ing to offer Field two thousand dollars and rations 
if he would land them in the United States. I 
wonder what the penalty is for smuggling Chinese. 
Do you know that, too, Jim? ” 


308 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“ Surely,” was the ready reply. ” Anyone who 
helps smuggle Chinese into the United States is 
liable to a fine of a thousand dollars and imprison- 
ment for a year. The master of a vessel bringing 
in Chinese is liable to be fined from five hundred 
to a thousand dollars for every one he brings 
in or tries to bring in, and to be put in prison 
for from one to five years. And besides that, 
his vessel may be confiscated by the govern- 
ment.” 

“ That’s a stiff dose,” exclaimed Carroll, 
“ and if Field is really doing this sort of thing I 
don’t wonder he’s anxious to get us out of the 
way.” 

“ Well, boys,” remarked Val at this point, 
rising and starting toward the cove, “ who’s 
going out in the fog with yours truly? ” 

“ Don’t we hunt for treasure any more this 
afternoon? ” demanded Sumner. 

“ What’s the use in this fog? We ought to 
run that line again from the beginning,” said 
Carroll. “ We brought up at 950 feet on the 
door-step of the old house, and ten feet further 
would have landed us about in the brick oven.” 

“We can try it again in the morning, or to- 
night if the fog lifts in time,” Val said, “ but I’m 
anxious to know who’s ashore out there. Who 
goes? ” 

“ Not for mine, thank you,” declared Carroll. 
“ When that colored gentleman discovers he has 


A TRIP IN THE FOG 


309 


nothing worse than a broken nose he may take a 
notion to come back for his razor and axe, so 
if you don’t mind I’ll stay right here.” 

“ Me too,” remarked Sumner, laconically. 

“ You’re a lot of squealers,” taunted Val. 
“ How’s your nerve, Jim? ” 

Jim allowed it was in working order, so they 
two embarked on the “ Screamer ” and went 
cautiously out of the cove. When they had 
cleared the entrance Jim indicated as well as he 
could the direction from which the talking had 
been heard. Val took his bearings, and steering 
by compass they went slowly off through the thick 
mist, with Val at the wheel and Jim forward at 
the bow keeping a sharp lookout, while the 
whistle was blown at frequent intervals. 

Val had studied the chart closely before starting, 
and knew that there were no ledges in that vicinity 
near enough the surface even at low tide to ground 
the “ Screamer,” which drew only thirty inches 
of water; but about a quarter of a mile offshore 
in a southeasterly direction from the cove there 
was a series of shoals that might easily catch a 
vessel of any draft. The location of these shoals 
and Jim’s idea of the direction from which the 
conversation had come seemed to agree; so they 
headed as nearly as possible toward that point. 

The tide had been high at quarter to one, and 
as it was now about four o’clock it was at half 
ebb, and racing strongly seaward. The engine 


310 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


was turning at about quarter speed, but the tide 
fully doubled that, so it was easy to figure out that 
it would not take the boys long to travel a quarter 
of a mile. In fact it was not more than a minute 
after the shore had vanished in the fog before 
Jim uttered a warning cry. Something dark 
showed dead ahead. 

“ Stop her! Stop her! he cried. “ Look out 
there, ahead! ” 

Val obeyed the order ^s quickly as he could. 
He pulled the clutch over into the reverse motion, 
but before there was any appreciable diminution 
of the boat’s headway the dark object which Jim 
had glimpsed resolved itself into a rowboat 
containing two men. Val gave the steering wheel 
a quick turn, but before the “ Screamer ” could do 
more than begin to swing off there came a grating 
crunch and sudden shock. There was a loud shout 
from one of the men in the rowboat, a cracking 
and splintering of wood, and then the two boats 
separated as suddenly as they had come together, 
and faded from each other in the fog. 

“ What did we smash? ” cried Val, as having 
throttled the engine down to its slowest gait, he 
threw the propeller out of gear and then ran for- 
ward to where Jim was standing in astonished 
silence, vainly endeavoring to pierce the fog in 
the direction of the vanished boat. 

“ We side-swiped ’em for fair, and bu’sted one 
of their oars, as near as I could tell, and they 


A TRIP IN THE FOG 311 

scraped some paint off for us,” was his answer. 
“Now who do you suppose they are? ” 

There was not a sound from the fog to tell that 
a rowboat was anywhere in the vicinity. 

“ Halloo! ” shouted Val. “ Halloo, the boat! 
Are you damaged? ” 

f^^^There was no response. The fog hid every- 
thing, and the men in the rowboat, whoever they 
were, kept quiet. 

“ Well, now don’t that beat the Dutch? ” 
exclaimed Val, in perplexity. “ Didn’t you see 
the men at all, Jim? ” 

“ Just a glimpse, and I couldn’t be sure I had 
ever seen them before, but if you want me to 
guess, I’d say they were Sanders and Hixon.” 

“ I’ll bet that’s just who they are,” was Val’s 
declaration, as he went back to the wheel. 
“ They’ve probably been out to that schooner — 
that is, we’ll suppose they have; though I don’t 
see how they knew she was there, or could find 
her in the fog.” 

“ Whoever it is, they prefer to keep dark,” 
replied Jim. “ Are we going on? ” 

Forward they went again, and an instant later 
a stronger gust of wind than usual opened a narrow 
lane through the fog and revealed dead ahead the 
bows and forerigging of a white schooner-yacht. 
It was only a moment before they glided close 
under her bow, whereon Val beheld with con- 
siderable surprise the gilt letters “ Penelope.” 


312 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


Val had shut of! the engine the moment the 
yacht appeared. As they drifted alongside Jim 
saw a ladder over the side. He reached success- 
fully with a boathook, and a moment later they 
made the bowline fast. 

Jim decided to stay by the “ Screamer to 
guard against any contingencies, so Val swung 
himself over to the ladder and climbed to the 
yacht’s deck. There was no one in sight, though, 
to be sure, the fog, which was now thinning some- 
what, rendered objects at a little distance quite 
indistinct. Somewhere forward somebody was 
talking in subdued tones. Val walked aft, and just 
as he came abreast of the cabin a loud voice inside 
burst forth. As every window was open Val could 
scarcely help hearing every word. 

“ Those Chinks have got to stay below, I say. 
I tell you the risk is too great — we can’t have 
’em loafing around on deck.” 

The response came in a voice too low for Val 
to catch, but what he had heard was quite enough 
to convince him that a part, at least, of the crazy 
engineer’s story was true, and , that the “ Penel- 
ope ” was the smuggling yacht that was due at 
Whale Island that day. 

” Do you think I’m going to set here on this 
rock with that bunch of Chinese up forward, 
and a revenue cutter likely to appear any time? ” 
demanded the loud voice. “ Not by a long sight! 
If this blank fog will give us a chance we’ll make 


A TRIP IN THE FOG 


313 


Field bring his old po’gy tub ’round here as soon 
as it’s dark and take ’em away. Then we can get 
a tug to haul us off, for we won’t care who comes 
aboard or sees us after that. Great Scott, what’s 
let loose now.? ” 

And this was the question that Val Brandon was 
asking himself at the same moment, for as he 
paused involuntarily to listen to the conversa- 
tion in the cabin an outburst of cries sounded 
forward, and two men came running aft towards 
him. This was disconcerting, to say the least, 
for Val naturally supposed this demonstration 
to be directed at himself. Hurrying to the rail, he 
took possession of a brass belaying pin. Then he 
retreated to the quarter deck, turned and faced 
the charge. In an instant the real situation was 
apparent. A sailor, uttering cries of fear, was 
running madly toward him, and close behind, 
giving vent to ejaculations in a strange language, 
came a Chinaman in pursuit, brandishing a 
knife. They seemed to traverse the yacht’s 
waist at one leap. Pellmell they came along the 
narrow passage between the cabin trunk and the 
rail, the sailor but a few feet in the lead. Scared 
half to death the man abruptly rounded the corner 
of the cabin. 

At that instant the Chinaman let fly with his 
knife at the fleeing form ahead. Neither of them 
appeared to as much as see the skipper of the 

Screamer,” but Val, though he knew nothing of 


314 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


the rights or wrongs of the quarrel, acted without 
hesitation. As the Chinaman threw the knife, 
Val hurled the belaying pin. The knife missed its 
intended mark, hit the taffrail with a twang and 
stuck there quivering; but the belaying pin 
struck the Chinaman fairly on the side of the head 
and bowled him over like a nine-pin. And just 
then two men emerged from the cabin, and gazed 
in surprise at the scene on deck. 

One of them was short and rather stout, a 
fellow of perhaps thirty-five years, well-dressed, 
but in clothes of a loud pattern. He was the 
same man the boys had seen on the “ Penelope” 
in Stroudport harbor when they were trying out 
the “ Screamer.” The other person was evidently 
the schooner’s captain, for he wore a yachts- 
man’s uniform, suited to such a position. 

The sailor had run across the quarter-deck, up 
the other side of the cabin, and disappeared for- 
ward. The loudly-dressed man and the “ Penel- 
ope’s ” captain looked silently for a moment at the 
fallen and half-dazed Chinaman. They made no 
attempt to touch him. And then they saw Val. 
A look of positive fright passed over their features, 
but after a fashion they recovered their self- 
possession, and, disregarding Val, the fleshy man 
spoke loudly. 

“ This has gone too far. Captain Rolfe,” he 
declared, pointing at the fallen man. “ Just have 
someone carry this fellow forward where he 


A TRIP IN THE FOG 315 

belongs, and tell that sailor he’ll lose his job if he 
doesn’t leave the cook alone.” 

The Captain nodded acquiescence, but, instead 
of calling a subordinate to do the errand, went 
forward himself with an alacrity that showed Val 
he was glad to leave an unpleasant situation. 

Having disposed of this matter the fleshy man 
turned to Val. 

“ Well, sir,” he said, brusquely, who are you, 
and what do you want here? ” 

By this time Val had determined what his cue 
should be. It would not do to let this man sus- 
pect that the smuggling scheme had been dis- 
covered. 

“ I don’t want anything,” was his smiling 
rejoinder. “ Don’t you need help, yourself? ” 

His quick suspicions being disarmed by Val’s 
apparent unconcern, the man relaxed his brusque- 
ness, leaned back against the cabin, and passed a 
somewhat tremulous hand across his forehead. 

“ No, thank you; I think we’re all right. Any- 
way, we’ll get off here on the next high tide,” he 
added, after looking Val keenly in the face. 

“ Are you leaking any? ” 

“ Not a drop.” 

“ We’re camping on Whale Island and ran out 
to see if we could help,” explained Val. “ I came 
aboard just in time to see your Chinese cook 
mixing it up with the sailor — in fact, I tried to 
help things out with the belaying pin.” 


316 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


This matter-of-fact reference to the Chinaman 
as being the cook seemed to bring a world of com- 
fort to his companion. 

‘ ‘ I am really much obliged to you, sir — what 
is the name.'* — Mr. Brandon. Yes, my name is 
Smith — Fordyce Smith. You arrived at a very 
opportune moment. This is the second time that 
sailor has scrapped with the Chink. The other 
time the cook nearly landed a kettle of boiling 
water on him, and these episodes are not pleasant. 
Then, to cap it all, I presume we’ll have to stick 
here till midnight. By the way, just whereabouts 
are we? ” 

Val gave the desired information, but could not 
judge from the expression of Mr. Smith’s face 
whether it was pleasing or otherwise. 

“ I have a motor-boat here, and if you wish we 
will run up to Cheney Landing and telephone to 
Rockland for a tug,” suggested Val. “If there’s 
none available, perhaps you can get the revenue 
cutter to haul you off. I saw the ‘ Woodbury ’ 
running in a couple of hours ago.” 

This was a sly dig, and Mr. Smith’s face paled a 
little, but his answer was calm enough. 

“ Thank you for the offer, but don’t trouble,” 
said he. “ In fact, we have sent the second mate 
for assistance and he’ll probably scare up relief 
somewhere. If not, we’ll get out a couple of 
anchors and try hedging her off on the next tide. 
Where’s your motor-boat? ” 


A TRIP IN THE FOG 


317 


Mr. Smith led the way to the ladder. Curiously 
enough the captain had not returned from his 
visit forward, nor had anyone appeared to care 
for the Chinaman. This person, however, had 
recovered from his daze. He staggered to his 
feet, and, bestowing on Val a look of suppressed 
rage, went forward. This look Val did not see 
as he accompanied Mr. Smith leisurely to the side ; 
and that person chatted the meantime in a 
desultory manner, but kept — as Val noted in 
covert glances — his eyes rather nervously fixed 
on the forward part of the yacht. Arriving at 
the ladder the young skipper made his adieus and 
started to climb down, when Mr. Smith glanced 
at the motor-boat, and uttered an exclamation of 
surprise as he read her name. 

“ Show me your boat, will you? ” he asked with 
some eagerness. 

Val assented, and in the next few minutes Mr. 
Fordyce Smith made a careful inspection of the 
“ Screamer.” He had no particular comment to 
offer, however, as he climbed back to his own deck ; 
but during his visit he had casually elicited from 
the boys information regarding the location of 
their camp. 

The fog had thinned Qonsiderably and the run 
back to the cove was made with little difficulty. 
They did not encounter again the row-boat with 
which they had collided, but of that they thought 
little, for the information Val had secured regard- 


318 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


ing the “ Penelope’s” business was enough to take 
their minds off everything else. All the way back 
they discussed it, and on arriving at camp electri- 
fied the others by the news that the lunatic’s story 
was turning out to be true. For the time being 
all thoughts of the triangle ciphers and the hidden 
treasure of the tilting rock were forgotten in the 
excitement of this new discovery. 

“ Yes, boys, the Chinese are out there on the 
‘ Penelope,’ and the thing that remains for us to 
decide now is, how shall we get ahead of the gang 
and land them in the hands of the law,” said Val, 
decisively. 

While Val and Jim had been gone Sumner and 
Carroll had been busy at the head of the cove with 
the clam-hoe. They had discovered the shell-fish 
in good numbers, and as they talked Carroll was 
washing the mud from a couple of pecks of them 
and preparing them for steaming in the camp 
kettle over the fireplace. 

“ I think we’d better run right up to the Land- 
ing and telephone Rockland,” said he, looking 
up from his work. “ It’ll be dark early to-night, 
for it’s cloudy, and the ‘ Dorabelle ’ will probably 
run around just as soon as they think it’s safe to 
try. The two you saw in the row-boat must 
have been men from the schooner hunting for 
Field. If they knew the lay of this island they 
won’t have any trouble finding the po’gy factory, 
and probably by this time Field’s engineer will 


A TRIP IN THE FOG 


319 


have his engine in running order again. If we can 
get word to Rockland in time they can send down 
here and nab the whole bunch red-handed while 
they are transferring the Chinese from the 
schooner to the steamer.” 

“ Yes, I think that’s the right thing to do,” was 
Jim’s verdict. “ Perhaps we can get the revenue 
cutter after them.” 

“ I hate like fun to run for the police,” broke in 
Sumner, to the surprise of everyone, for he was 
usually the most timid of all. “ Wouldn’t it be 
a feather in our caps if we could capture the whole 
of ’em single-handed? That would be something 
like! ” 

“ By George! ” suddenly exploded Carroll. 
“ By George, I had almost forgotten! ” 

He stopped his supper preparations and began 
hunting through a box of rubbish that was to be 
burned in the camp-fire. 

“ Forgotten what? ” demanded Val. 

“ Ah, here it is,” Carroll cried, in a moment, 
as he pulled out a crumpled newspaper and opened 
it to an advertisement. “ This came ’round some 
of the stuff you brought down from the store this 
morning, and it’s only two days old. Listen : 

“ ‘ Five Hundred' Dollars Reward! Any person 
giving information that will lead to the arrest and 
conviction of the person or persons who are 
reported to be endeavoring to smuggle Chinese 
into the United States from the Canadian Prov- 


320 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


inces will be entitled to the above reward, etc., 
etc. The aforesaid smugglers are supposed to 
be operating by sea, and will probably try to make 
landing somewhere on the New England coast, 
etc.’ ” 

“ Boys,” said Val, breaking in quickly as Carroll 
concluded his reading, “ I believe that if we can 
only scare up the nerve we can dead easy capture 
the ‘ Dorabelle ’ to-night, captain, mate, crew, and 
Chinese cargo, turn ’em over to the authorities, 
and take that reward.” And he rapidly detailed 
a plan that had taken shape in his mind, while the 
others listened, doubtful and apprehensive at 
first, but at last coming into full accord with the 
scheme. 

And now arose a most appetizing odor of 
steamed clams; but all the time supper was in 
progress the boys were busy working out the 
details for capturing the ” Dorabelle ” after she 
had taken the Chinese from the “ Penelope.” 

“ In the first place we’ve got to know when the 
‘ Dorabelle ’ starts from the po’gy factory to run 
around to the schooner,” said Val. “I think 
that as soon as it begins to get dusky Cal and Sum 
better take a walk across the island and keep tabs 
on operations at the factory. Just as soon as the 
steamer gets underway, hustle back here and give 
us the word. We’ll put all the camp stuff, except 
the tent, back on the ‘ Screamer ’ and lock it up 
there ; for if things work as I expect we may not 


A TRIP IN THE FOG 321 

be back here to-night, and we don’t want prowlers 
lugging anything off. 

“Now this is the way the thing looks to me: 
Field will only let as many of his men in on 
this as are absolutely necessary to handle the 
steamer — the fewer the number the safer the 
secret. There will be Field, Pike, and probably 
Sanders, and Hixon, and the Chinese. They’ll 
have to have a man at the wheel, an engineer and 
a fireman, and someone to keep the Chinamen in 
shape, and the four I have mentioned can probably 
attend to everything. I figure they will put the 
Chinamen into the forecastle and keep ’em there; 
the helmsman will be busy in the pilot-house, the 
engineer and the fireman at their stations, and 
that will leave Field to be tackled first.” 

And so they talked on till the plan, in theory 
at least, seemed to be well-nigh perfect. 

As they had anticipated, night shut down early. 
The fog had about disappeared, for the wind had 
shifted to westerly, but heavy clouds obscured 
the moon. Inspection showed the “ Penelope ” 
still aground. It was after sunset when Carroll 
and Sumner started across the island ; but, 
before they went, everyone had taken hold and 
put things aboard the “ Screamer,” which was to 
remain at anchor in the cove. The trip out to the 
“ Dorabelle ” after she had made fast to the 
schooner was to be made in the row-boat, for the 
noise of the motor-boat’s exhaust would surely 


322 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


alarm the smugglers. To be successful their 
coming must be a complete surprise. Jim had 
dug down into his “ Kit ” again and this time 
brought out a pair of 32-calibre revolvers. One 
of these he gave to Carroll and the other he stuck 
in his own hip pocket. This increased the arsenal 
to four weapons: three revolvers and one rifle.' 
Then Val and Jim replenished the camp-fire and 
sat down before it to await the return of the 
others, thinking, as they did so, that such action 
might allay the suspicions of anyone Field might 
send to spy on their movements. They did not 
anticipate any attack, however, that night. They 
believed he would need all his forces on the 
steamer. 

The tender was drawn up with her bow pointing 
off-shore, ready to be slid into the water at a 
moment’s notice; but it was ten o’clock when 
a rustling in the bushes announced the boys’ 
return. 

“ All aboard, fellows ! ” said Carroll, in a guarded 
tone. “ The ‘ Dorabelle ’ left her wharf about ten 
minutes ago. Let’s start now! ” 


CHAPTER XVIII 


AT CLOSE QUARTERS 

Somehow, planning the capture of the “ Dora- 
belle ” and the actual work of capturing her were 
two very different things, and when the rowboat 
went noiselessly out of the cove that night it 
carried a very subdued quartette. As soon as 
Carroll and Sumner returned with word that the 
steamer had started, Val and Jim had gone down 
to the shore to see if they could tell when she came 
alongside the schooner; but it was so dark and 
misty off-shore that they found it hard even to 
locate the “ Penelope ” with accuracy, for she 
showed no lights. 

So they started immediately, for it was very 
certain that if they could not see the schooner the 
crew of the schooner could not see them. Sumner 
and Carroll were at the oars, Jim in the bow, and 
Val steering. Val, Carroll and Jim had each a 
revolver and a pocket full of cartridges, while 
Sumner was in possession of the rifle. They had 
also brought a coil of small rope, and a big bunch 
of cotton waste, whose use will be shown later. 


324 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


Conversation languished — nobody felt like 
talking. Indeed, I am quite inclined to think 
that only the firm determination on the part of 
each not to be a “ squealer ” kept them all from 
backing out of the enterprise. 

“ I see a red light down to the south’ard, boys,” 
presently announced Jim. “ Maybe that’s the 
‘ Dorabelle’s ’ port running-light.” 

A few minutes later they came softly alongside 
the “ Penelope’s ” port side, and, pushing quietly 
aft, presently got a hold on her rudder and hung 
there, effectually concealed by the long overhang 
from the view of anyone on board. 

It was highly presumable that if the po’gy 
steamer dared to come alongside and make fast 
in the shoal water, she would do so on the star- 
board or seaward side. And now as the approach- 
ing craft that Jim had noted came nearer, she 
showed not only her red port light, but her green 
starboard light as well. 

“ She’s heading right for us, boys,” whispered 
Val. “ That must be the ‘ Dorabelle.’ ” 

And so it proved. The steamer came on and 
finally slowed down and stopped within a short 
distance of the stranded schooner. The voice of 
Mr. Fordyce Smith hailed from the quarter-deck 
right over the boys’ heads. In response to his in- 
vitation the “ Dorabelle ” crept cautiously closer. 

“ How much water you got there? ” demanded 
a voice, recognizable as Field’s. 


AT CLOSE QUARTERS 


325 


“ Sixteen feet under the stern and about four 
under the bow, ” was Smith’s response. “ You can 
run alongside our quarter all right without 
striking. Is Dan Newton there, and that second 
mate of mine? ” 

There was a reply in the affirmative, and then 
after a series of maneuvres the po’gy steamer 
worked herself up till her waist was alongside 
the “ Penelope’s ” port quarter; but so deep was 
the dusk under the schooner’s overhang that not 
a suspicion did the smugglers have of the boys’ 
presence. There was not a particle of sea on — 
only a very long, slow, lazy swell — and the 
steamer made fast without trouble. Then came a 
few orders in an undertone, followed by a pattering 
of feet on the schooner’s deck. There was 
scratching and scrambling as the Chinamen 
climbed from one vessel to the other. When the 
transshipment was completed, the lines were cast 
off and the “ Dorabelle ” steamed slowly away, 
turning about in a wide curve, and heading out to 
sea. 

But while this work had been going on, the boys 
were far from idle. Letting go their hold on the 
“ Penelope’s ” rudder-post, they worked care- 
fully along toward the steamer’s stern, and finally 
seciured a similar position there, making fast with 
the rowboat’s painter. They had the scare of their 
lives, however, soon after, for it seemed that the 
“ Penelope’s ” boat, which Dan Newton and the 


326 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


second mate had taken when they rowed ashore, 
was trailing astern of the “ Dorabelle,” and dis- 
covery seemed almost inevitable when a man came 
aft, untied the painter from the taffrail, and towed 
the boat over to the schooner’s quarter. But the 
person carried out his errand without the slightest 
suspicion of anything being amiss, and the boys 
breathed more easily. 

It was at least ten minutes before they made 
any move to climb on board the steamer, and 
meantime their boat bobbed unceremoniously to 
and fro in the seething water thrown up by the 
propeller. When at length they thought matters 
might have settled down into regular routine, 
Val stood up and caught hold of the after guard. 
Carroll gave him a boost, and he pulled himself 
up and reached the after deck. 

Val did not feel calm — far from it. He was 
decidedly nervous and uneasy ; but he was plucky, 
too, and when a moment’s reconnoitring showed 
there was no one in that part of the boat he gave 
his attention to helping his companions on board. 
Up they came, one after the other, and then, 
with firearms, rope, and cotton-waste handy, 
they crept forward in single file, Val ahead. 

“ We’ll tackle the cabin first,” he whispered, as 
they came to an open door from which emanated 
a conversation that alternated between loud tones 
and a nasal drawl. “ I’ll lead, and I want Cal 
and Sum to follow right behind me. Be ready 


AT CLOSE QUARTERS 327 

to shoot at the first sign of trouble; but don’t 
try to hit anyone — least of all me. 

“ Jim, you stand guard at the door, for if we 
have a fuss here the noise will likely bring some- 
body on the jump; in which case don’t hesitate 
an instant. Hold ’em up sharp! ” 

Leaving Jim stationed just outside the door, 
with firearms levelled and Val in the lead the 
others filed abruptly into the “ Dorabelle’s ” 
apology for a cabin, and confronted the inmates. 
They were Captain Field and Mr. Fordyce Smith. 
Though the room was but poorly lighted by a 
swinging kerosene lamp, their faces clearly showed 
consternation. With an oath Smith started to 
his feet, and one hand moved toward a hip pocket. 

“ Up with your hands! ” ordered Val, levelling 
his revolver full at the man’s head. 

“Help! Pike! Sanders! Come quick!” bel- 
lowed Smith before the boys could interfere. 
And then Val fired. He did not hit Smith, and 
his only intent was to scare him into sub- 
mission. The shot whistled close by his ear and 
buried itself in the woodwork, but its subduing 
effect was marvellous. The gentleman in the 
sporty clothing paled and dropped nervously 
into a chair. As for Field, the effect on him 
was much the same, and though he had been on 
the point of charging on the boys, he too, suddenly 
sat down. 

“ Well,” he said, with a sickly smile, “ you seem 


328 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


to have us kind of at a disadvantage. What you 
up to, anyhow? ” 

“ You’ll see, soon enough,” said Val, brusquely. 
“ Put up your hands and keep them up ! ” 

The command was this time obeyed, and in a 
trice a gag of cotton waste was thrust into the 
mouth of each to prevent further outcry, and 
tied there with several turns of cord around the 
head. Their ankles were next securely tied to- 
gether, and then their hands brought together 
behind the chairs and also tied. Meantime Jim 
stood guard at the door awaiting any response 
to Smith’s call for help, or the coming of any one 
curious on account of the revolver shot; but to 
their relief no one appeared. 

Two of the enemy were now taken care of, and 
leaving Sumner on guard with instructions to 
shoot at anyone who tried to release them — 
which instructions were purposely made as blood- 
thirsty as possible, though none of the boys had 
any intention of really hitting anyone — Val led 
the way forward once more, followed by Carroll 
and Jim. At the engine-room door they next 
halted, and looked inside. Sanders was busily 
oiling up the engine. 

“ Come out here a minute, Sanders,” called 
Val, drawing back. “ Come out here! ” 

Rather surprised, but without a suspicion of the 
real state of affairs, the engineer pro-tempore 
stepped leisurely on deck. 







HIS FEET AND WRISTS WERE FIRMLY TIED 




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AT CLOSE QUARTERS 


329 


“ What do you want? ” he asked. 

The next instant his feet were knocked from 
under him, and he fell flat on his face with Val and 
Carroll on top of him. He began struggling 
desperately, but quieted down at once when he 
felt the cold muzzle of a revolver against his head. 
His feet and wrists were firmly tied and a gag 
put in his mouth and then Val picked him up by 
the shoulders, Carroll took his feet, and between 
them they tugged the fellow into the cabin and 
deposited him on the floor. 

“ That makes three,” said Val, laconically. 
Again he led the way forward, and entering the 
engine-room, looked down into the stoke-hole, 
where Hixon was in the act of putting a shovelful 
of coal into the furnace door. 

“ Hixon! ” called Val. “ Hixon, come up 
here!” 

Hixon looked up to see the gleam of a revolver 
in Val’s hand, and he came up at once. 

“ Who’s on board beside you and Field, San- 
ders and Smith? ” asked Val, holding the revolver 
in a prominent position. 

“ Why — why — ” stammered the fellow, very 
much perturbed. “ Why, there’s Captain Field, 
and Pike — ” 

“ Where’s Pike?” demanded Carroll. 

“ In the pilot house,” was the reply. 

“ Anybody with him? ” 

“ No.” 


330 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


Who else is here? ” went on Val. 

‘‘ Sanders, and me,” continued Hixon with less 
hesitation, now that it seemed probable he would 
not be immediately shot, “ and HefHer.” 

“ Heffler? ” repeated Val. “ Where’s Heffler, 
and what does he look like? ” 

“ He was with the Captain, and he wears a 
checked suit.” 

“ Aha, so Heffler and Mr. Fordyce Smith are one 
and the same, boys,” said Val with a ring of 
elation in his voice. “ I had begun to suspect 
as much, and it looks as if our net was gathering 
in more than we even hoped to catch.” 

“ What are you going to do? ” questioned 
Hixon, nervously. “You ain’t revenue officers, 
are you? ” 

“No, we are not,” retorted Val, “ but you’ll 
find we’re just as good. Are the Chinese all down 
in the forecastle? ” 

“ I don’t know what you are driving at,” 
replied Hixon, in assumed wonder, which did not 
deceive anyone. “ What do you mean? ” 

“ Never mind, then. Tie him, boys!” Val 
replied. In short order Hixon was served like the 
others, and taken to the cabin to be placed in 
Sumner’s custody. 

“ We’re gathering them in, one by one. Sum,” 
announced Jim, as the latest acquisition was 
brought in. “ We’ll be in with Pike in a minute, 
and that’ll complete the list,” 


AT CLOSE QUARTERS 331 

The eyes of Heffler and Field snapped angrily at 
this declaration, but as their mouths were full 
of cotton waste they could not very well make 
any reply. 

And now Val led the way forward again. They 
traversed the waist of the steamer, but instead of 
fishing equipment the deck was filled with barrels 
— presumably full of fish oil. There was not a 
Chinaman on deck. The night was damp and 
cool, and they had all been sent below, for fear 
their presence on board might become known. 
The forecastle doors were closed, though the 
companion slide was open for ventilation. Val 
bent over the opening, and in the poor illumina- 
tion afforded in the forecastle he caught glimpses 
of forms huddled about in various attitudes. 
Some were in the bunks, some standing about, 
some squatted on the floor. A buzz of unin- 
telligible conversation came up to his ears, 
mingled with an odor that was almost unbearable. 

“ It looks to me as if our greatest danger lay 
right here,” whispered Val as he drew back from 
the companion way, “ but we’ll have to take a 
chance on leaving them as they are till w^e have 
Pike in limbo.” And the trio went softly up the 
stairs to the pilot-house, and entered the open 
door. 

Except for the glow in the binnacle the pilot- 
house was dark. The helmsman stood looking 
ahead through the open windows, totally unaware 


332 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


of approaching danger, until Val touched him on 
the shoulder. He turned suddenly to catch the 
glint of the revolver in the yachtsman’s hand. 

“ We want you, Pike,” said the latter, sharply. 

It was too dark for Pike to recognize his visitors, 
but he acted on the instant. 

“ Revenue officers! ” he exclaimed, under his 
breath. Abandoning the wheel, with one jump 
he broke through the group. Before the boys 
could do anything to prevent he darted out of 
the pilot-house, ran down the steps, and dis- 
appeared. 

“ Take the wheel. Cal, and head her up the bay. 
Jim and I will look after Pike. I guess he’s gone 
for his gun.” 

Carroll seized the wheel and brought the steamer 
around until she headed in exactly the opposite 
direction; but in the meanwhile Val and Jim 
hurried to the deck, and went aft as fast as 
they could, looking for the mate. But they were 
not more than halfway to the cabin when they 
heard loud language. Then came the sound, 
muffied,of two rifle shots, followed by a man’s yell. 

“ Great smoke! ” exclaimed Val, “ I’ll bet Sum 
has winged him! ” 

They entered the cabin to find the place hazy 
with rifle smoke, through which they could see 
Sumner with lowered weapon gazing in a horrified 
way at Pike, who was sprawled out on the floor 
just inside the door. The mate was far from dead, 


AT CLOSE QUARTERS 333 

though, for he groaned and tried ineffectually to 
rise as Val stepped to his side. 

“ I had to shoot, Val,” cried Sumner, “ for in 
another second he would have knocked my head 
off; but I fired at his feet, and guess he isn’t 
killed, is he? ” 

“ Killed? No! ” Val retorted, savagely, as he 
pulled Pike to a sitting posture, and helped him 
into a chair. “You can’t kill such a liar and 
sneak as he is; I’ll bet he’s more scared than 
hurt.” 

Jim tied the mate’s wrists behind his chair, and 
Val investigated his wounds. One of Sumner’s 
bullets had drawn blood from the calf of his left 
leg, while the other had gone through the toe of 
one of his boots and imbedded itself in the floor, 
making a clean hole without touching the foot 
at all. 

“You great baby! ” jeered Val, contemp- 
tuously. “ Where is your sand? That was a 
terrible bluff you put up to me the other night, 
wasn’t it? But it doesn’t go down now. We’ve 
nailed you at last, you and the rest of the gang, 
and we’ll land you where you belong or break 
something trying! ” 

“ Aren’t you going to do anything for my leg? ” 
whined the mate, his courage pretty far gone. 
“ It smarts like Are.” 

“ It will have to smart for awhile, then,” re- 
turned Val, with an apparent callousness that he 


334 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


was far from feeling. “ It’s nothing but a scratch, 
anyhow, and we’ve no time to fool with you.” 

The gags were now taken from the mouths of 
the four first captured; but their arms and legs 
were left securely fastened. They made a most 
sour and angry-looking group. 

” Where are you taking us? ” demanded Heffler 
the instant he was able to speak. 

Val paid no attention to him. 

“I’m sorry to find you engaged in this busi- 
ness,” he remarked to the Captain, as he removed 
the wad of cotton waste that had been stopping 
his utterance. 

“ What business are you alludin’ to? ” asked 
Field, angrily, after he had vehemently spit out 
a few strands of thread that had been left 
behind. “ I’ll have you know this is piracy, 
you — you — ! ” he sputtered incoherently in his 
rage. 

“ Cut it out! ” advised Val, curtly. “ It isn’t 
piracy that ails you — it’s smuggling! ” And he 
and Jim abruptly departed for the engine-room 
where for some minutes the machinery had been 
running without any attention. But Sumner 
was left on guard still, and he noticed that Val’s 
sharp remark made Heffler ’s jaw drop, and his 
face grow noticeably pale. 

“What are you getting out of this?” Field 
inquired of Sumner, after a few moments’ reflec- 
tion. “ Ain’t doing it for fun, be you? ” 


AT CLOSE QUARTERS 335 

“ Five hundred dollars’ reward,” was the short 
reply. 

“ Is that all? ” sniffed the Captain. “ You’re 
taking big chances for mighty little money. 

“ Say,” he went on, in a confidential tone, “ if 
you’ll let us loose we’ll give you a thousand 
dollars.” 

“ Make it two thousand, won’t you? ” asked 
Sumner. “ That would give us five hundred 
apiece and be more of an object, you know.” 
And the youngster grinned back cheerfully at 
Field, whose jaws suddenly shut with a snap. 

“ Oh, dry up. Field, you make me tired,” 
interposed Heffier. “ Can’t you see the boy’s 
stringing you? ” Whereupon conversation in 
the cabin of the “ Dorabelle ” abruptly stopped. 

Jim stirred up the fire under the boiler, while 
Val whistled up to Carroll through the tube, and 
announced the capture of the mate. 

“ We’re going to try and fasten in the Chinese 
now,” he went on, “ and then we’ll shove this old 
hooker for Rockland for all she’s worth! ” 

“ I can see the searchlight of a steamer ahead,” 
announced Carroll. “ She seems to be coming 
this way. I think we’d better try to attract her 
attention.” 

“ Surely. How far off is she? ” 

“ A quarter of a mile, maybe. It’s hard to 
tell.” 

“ Wait till we get the forecastle companion 


336 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


fastened. Then when I shout, you blow the 
distress signal.” 

Leaving Jim at work on the fire, Val went for- 
ward to the forecastle. A glance showed him that 
the inmates were grouped about much the same 
as before. The disturbances on board had evi- 
dently not attracted their attention — at least 
not enough to alarm them. He slid the hatch 
shut and fastened it. 

“ All right, Cal! ” he called loudly. “ Let her 
go!” 

Carroll immediately began a series of shrieks 
on the whistle, and Val stepped to the rail and 
looked ahead. The steamer was invisible in the 
darkness, but her search-light was brilliant, and 
as the distress signals arose from the fishing 
steamer it swept slowly around from west to 
east, here and there, till at last it rested on the 
“ Dorabelle.” 

And now, as Carroll for a moment released the 
whistle cord, answering toots came from the other 
craft. She was close at hand, and, as Val stood 
watching, her searchlight suddenly was turned 
full upon him. Its brightness made him blink. 
He turned to go back to the engine-room, for it 
was almost time to stop the machinery; but, as 
he did so, somebody seized him violently from 
behind, and, before he could make any deter- 
mined resistance, lifted him in the air and threw 
him bodily over the rail into the sea ! 


AT CLOSE QUARTERS 


337 


Over his shoulder as he fell he glimpsed a 
Chinese head. He uttered a loud cry, but it was 
drowned by the renewed shrieks of the whistle. 
Then he struck the water, and went down — 
deeper and deeper into the chilly waves of Penob- 
scot Bay. 

Though Val struck out with all his might it 
seemed as if he would never start back toward the 
surface ; and as he struggled the thought came to 
him that the Chinaman he had knocked over with 
the belaying pin had taken this way to “ get 
square.” 

The “ Dorabelle ” was no ocean greyhound, but 
by the time Val had risen to the top and blown 
the water from his mouth and nose she had left 
him behind. But the beam of that searchlight 
was resting on the water where he had gone down, 
and as he came up and began swimming it kept 
playing on him, for the Chinaman’s assault had 
been seen by the pilot of the other boat. Val 
made no outcry, for he needed his energy to keep 
afloat, hampered as he was with the clothing 
necessary for a cool night on the water; but an 
encouraging hail came from the strange steamer. 
A boat splashed overside, and before he had 
become exhausted it reached and took him in. 

The boat contained two seamen and a young 
officer. The latter asked a few general questions 
of Val, but devoted himself principally to getting 
his boat back to the steamer as soon as possible. 


338 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


As for Val, he sat, dripping but warm from his 
exertions, and tried to regain his breath, which he 
had done by the time they came alongside. Then 
he inquired the identity of the vessel that had 
rescued him. 

“ Revenue cutter ‘ Woodbury,’ ” was the 
reply. 

“ I must see your Captain at once,” insisted 
Val. 

A companion-ladder had been dropped over the 
side, and without waiting for ceremony he hur- 
riedly climbed to the cutter’s deck. Hailing 
the first person he met he requested to be taken 
to the Captain, and when in a few moments he 
had the pleasure of meeting that person, the latter 
received an announcement that rather electrified 
him. 

“ My name is Brandon,” said Val, rather un- 
steadily, while water dripped from him in copious 
streams, “ and I have the pleasure of reporting 
the capture of the po’gy steamer ‘ Dorabelle ’ 
with a lot of smuggled Chinese on board, and five 
of the smugglers.” 

But sudden surprises were an everyday occur- 
rence to the able commander of the government 
boat, and this one did not prevent him from 
taking prompt action. The “ Woodbury ” in- 
stantly went about in pursuit of the “ Dorabelle,” 
for the latter had gone some distance past before 
stopping, since Jim in the stoke-hole had at first 


AT CLOSE QUARTERS 339 

paid no attention to Carroll’s signals to slow down 
and stop, as he thought Val was on duty. 

As the sea was still calm the cutter made fast 
alongside the po’gy steamer, and a detail of 
seamen transferred the prisoners from Sumner’s 
care to more secure quarters. The Chinese were 
taken care of — the one roaming the vessel at 
large being quickly captured — and a temporary 
crew was put in charge of the steamer. 

Then, acting still on information given by the 
boys, the “ Woodbury ” ran up to and took pos- 
session of the stranded “ Penelope,” putting her 
entire crew under arrest. Having thus satisfied 
for the present the demands of the law, the cutter 
put a hawser aboard the schooner, and, the tide 
being high, succeeded after a little effort in pulling 
her into deep water. 

By the time all this had been accomplished it 
was long past midnight ; and as the fog had again 
set in thickly, compelling all three vessels to 
anchor, at the invitation of the “ Woodbury’s ” 
Captain the boys were quartered aboard for the 
rest of the night. 

It was after eight o’clock before a westerly 
breeze arose and scattered the fog. Then, having 
eaten a good breakfast, the boys started for 
camp in the rowboat, well pleased with the results 
of the night’s work. 

Tired but happy they rounded the southern 
point of the cove’s entrance. It was Jim at the 


340 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


bow who first noticed that something was wrong. 
He rubbed his eyes twice before saying a word. 
Then he gave a shout of dismay. 

“Boys!’' cried he; “boys, the ‘Screamer’s’ 
gone! ” 


CHAPTER XIX 


THE EX-ENGINEER REAPPEARS 

There was not the slightest doubt about the 
matter. The cove was bare from end to end — 
the “ Screamer was gone. 

In great dismay the boys disembarked, and 
hardly waiting to beach the boat, ran up to camp. 
The tent stood in its place, but it had been dis- 
turbed, for the fly was unfastened and partly 
opened. Sumner ran ahead and looked inside. 
What he saw surprised him, for he uttered a cry of 
astonishment, and the others immediately hurried 
up. 

Spread in confusion on the floor of the tent were 
the personal effects that had been left on the 
“ Screamer ” the night before. There they all 
were — bedding, clothing, food, the four chairs 
from the cockpit — everything that was not 
part and parcel of the motor-boat’s equipment 
had been brought ashore. It was a mystify- 
ing affair, and, to crown all, there was no word 
of explanation anywhere — not a vestige of a 
message to tell who had taken the Screamer,” 
or why. 


841 


342 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


A hasty conference at once took place. 

“ We’ve got rid of Field and Pike and Sanders 
and Hixon and Heffler,” remarked Sumner, 
dolefully, “ and I certainly thought we’d have a 
little chance now to hunt for the tilting rock.” 

“No such luck,” Jim declared. “ I’ll bet that 
treasure is hoodooed, boys! It’s hoodooed, and 
we’ll have nothing but trouble as long as we stay 
here! ” 

“ Oh, forget it! ” admonished Val, disgustedly. 
“ I know we’re all tired, Jim, but there’s no need 
of flying off the handle like that. When we can 
find time to hunt we’ll have chance enough. But 
just now somebody has stolen our boat, and we’ve 
got to find it.” 

“ How about the negro? ” suggested Carroll. 
“ We didn’t get him, and perhaps he’s broken 
loose again aroimd here.” 

“ No, I don’t believe so,” was Val’s thoughtful 
reply. “ That man is a destructive brute, and if 
he had come again, it stands to reason he would 
only have smashed things. But why did the 
person who took the ‘ Screamer ’ take so much 
pains to put our things ashore ? I can only account 
for it on the groimd that he thought the boat was 
his ; can anyone think of anybody that might fit 
such a description? ” 

A light broke over Carroll’s face, and he was 
about to reply, when the conversation was inter- 
rupted by the noise of someone hurrying through 


EX - ENGINEER REAPPEARS 343 


the bushes near the head of the cove. Hereto- 
fore only enemies had come from that direction, 
so they waited in some apprehension for the person 
to appear. In a moment Marshall came in sight, 
and he did not stop till he had reached the centre 
of the camp. His clothing was in the same 
unkempt state as on the day before, and in his 
eyes shone the same insane light. 

“ Where are the smugglers? ” he asked, looking 
sharply around. ‘‘ Where are the Chinese? ” 

“ We captured them last night,” said Val, 
quietly. “ They are now on the revenue cutter. 
They won’t trouble you again.” 

“ That is good; but the ‘ Screamer ’ is gone — 
gone,” returned the lunatic, pointing to the cove. 
“ I say your boat is gone! ” he cried, stamping 
his foot. 

“ Gone where, and who took her? ” quickly 
asked Val, realizing that here was a source of 
information of which he had not thought. 

“ I was waiting and watching — watching and 
waiting through the night for the smugglers,” 
explained Marshall, with an air of infinite crafti- 
ness. “ The Chinese didn’t come, but before mid- 
night two men arrived in a rowboat.” 

“ WTio were they? ” questioned Jim, 

It was too dark to see their faces, though they 
had a lantern,” was the reply, “ but one of them 
was tall. 

“ They were surprised not to find anyone here,” 


344 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


said Marshall, with scarcely a trace of his cus- 
tomary nervousness. He seemed to be telling 
the truth, and the boys were impressed accord- 
ingly. 

“ Tell us all about it,” requested Val; and the 
ex-engineer continued. 

“ I was right there,” and he pointed out behind 
the boulder that backed the fireplace. “ I heard 
the boat grate on the sand, and then the two men 
came up to the camp. 

“ ‘ Nobody's at home,' said the tall man after 
he had been to the tent, ‘ but we’ll take the 
“ Screamer ” just the same. Come on, let's put 
their stuff ashore, and get out of here.' 

” I watched them every minute. They put 
yoiu* stuff in the tent, and then they got on the 
‘ Screamer ’ and went away.” 

“ Which way did they go? ” Val asked. 

“ To the hotel at Rockland Breakwater,” was 
the illuminating reply. 

“ Are you sure? ” 

“ That’s where they said they were going.” 

“Then hooray, boys! This lets us out!” 
exclaimed Val, looking cheerful for the first time 
since coming ashore. “ Who’ll go right up to 
Rockland with me? ” 

“ Guess we all will, fast enough,” chuckled 
Cal, while Sumner and Jim registered a vigorous 
assent to the proposal. “ If there's going to be 
another round-up, we want a hand in it. 


EX - ENGINEER REAPPEARS 345 


“ Did you know the crew of the ‘ Woodbury ’ 
didn’t find Dan Newton on the ‘ Penelope ’ this 
morning? ” Cal added, significantly. 

“ And the second mate was gone, too,” added 
Jim. 

” Don’t rub it in,” grimaced Val. ” I’ve got 
an idea who took the ‘ Screamer ’ myself. And 
it looks as if I had really sold the ‘ Spitfire ’ for 
just the five himdred dollars that Mr. Manning 
gave me to boot. But there is one thing I’m going 
to do the minute I reach Cheney Landing, and 
that is : get Captain Roderick on the long-distance 
telephone and find out the real history of that 
motor-boat. Then I’ll know what to do next.” 

Just as Val made this announcement they were 
all surprised to hear the puffing of a launch 
entering the cove. 

“ The ‘ Screamer’s ’ coming back, boys,” cried 
Sumner, and with one accord they all, with the 
exception of Marshall, ran down to the water. 
The lunatic had slumped down in a chair, and 
seemed absorbed in meditation. A power-boat 
containing three men was approaching, but it was 
a dory-laimch, bearing very little resemblance 
to the missing cruiser. Coming to the head of 
the cove the laimch was run up on the sand, and 
one of her occupants jumped out. 

“ Seen anything of a crazy man around here? ” 
he inquired, walking over to the boys. 

“ Yes; why? ” replied Val. 


346 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“ My name is Billings, and Em an officer from 
the Insane Asylum at Augusta,” the man ex- 
plained. “We’re looking for a lunatic who was 
committed from this island last year. He escaped 
several days ago, and we imderstand he is back 
here again.” 

“ If you will walk up that path a little ways, 
Mr. Billings,” Val returned, indicating the way to 
the camp, “ you ought to find your man.” 

“Is he violent? ” 

“ Well, not so very,” Jim said, while the others 
laughed. 

Billings turned and spoke to his companions. 

“ He’s right up here,” said he. “ Knight, you 
come along, and we’ll take him.” 

Without waiting for anyone to join him, Bil- 
lings started briskly up to camp, and had dis- 
appeared among the trees before Knight was more 
than out of the boat. The boys also went back 
toward the tent, but they had not taken half a 
dozen steps before a terrific howl came from the 
top of the knoll. This outburst was followed by 
a series of unintelligible expletives, after which, 
came a crackling and crashing as if somebody 
was hurrying through the bushes at breakneck 
pace. 

“ Help! Help! Stop him! ” loudly implored a 
voice, and, as the boys entered the camp enclosure, 
Mr. Billings burst forth from the bushes at the 
back, closely followed by the lunatic, who was 


EX - ENGINEER REAPPEARS 347 


brandishing the negro’s axe. In and out among 
the trees they ran, and then twice around the 
boulder back of the fireplace, the pursuer wild 
with insane frenzy, the piursued almost overcome 
with fright; till finally, when the engineer was 
almost upon him, the other made a desperate 
dash down the slope toward the cove. 

The boys, who, too surprised to act, had been for 
an instant gazing at the fracas, stepped hurriedly 
out of the path, and Billings ran past them; 
but, as the crazy man came along behind, Jim 
stuck out a foot and tripped him very neatly. He 
lunged forward, striking his head with great force 
against a tree, and rolled up in a heap. 

When BiUings found that he was no longer 
piursued he stopped running and came back, 
accompanied by Knight and the owner of the 
launch. The first was puffing hard, and perspira- 
tion stood in beads on his forehead. 

“ Heavens, but that was a close call,” he 
said, in an agitated voice, as he came up to 
where the boys were rolling Marshall over on 
his back and placing him in a more comfortable 
position. ^ 

“ How did you manage to stir him up like that ?” 
asked Val, curiously, as he felt for the engineer’s 
heart, and found that it was still beating, though 
the man was imconscious. 

“ I never did a thing,” declared the man from 
the asylum. “ I put my hand on his shoulder 


348 AN ISLAND SECRET 

and said that I wanted him to come along with 
me.” 

” Probably he recognized you, Billings,” Knight 
suggested. 

“ He certainly seemed to,” admitted Billings, 
somewhat shamefacedly. ” Anyhow, he let out 
a roar, jumped for the axe, and took after me. 
And I — well — it all came so quick that I was 
startled — some.” 

“Yes, when we saw you legging it through the 
bushes and around that rock we felt that you 
might be startled — that is, just a tri^ie startled,” 
retorted Knight ; and at this sally everyone, even 
Billings, had to smile, which relieved the nervous 
tension a good deal. 

Cool water was brought, and the engineer’s head 
bathed for some time, but he gave no signs of 
regaining his senses. A bloody bruise on the right 
side of the head, just where the livid scar had 
been, showed where he had come into violent 
contact with the tree. So, as they had no other 
means of restoration at hand to try, it was deter- 
mined to take him at once in the launch to a 
doctor at the Landing. The owner of the motor- 
boat, the “ Antelope ” as she was named, was 
willing to take the boys along, too, for they wanted 
to get on the trail of the “ Screamer,” but were 
not particularly anxious to row the length of the 
island. 

' The boys made hasty changes in their wearing 


EX - ENGINEER REAPPEARS 349 


apparel, everything was put back into the tent, 
and the fly fastened. Then the lunatic was 
carried carefully down the slope and placed on 
some cushions in the bottom of the launch, and 
the party started. 

The “ Antelope ” was by no means as fast as 
the “ Screamer,” but she made fair speed, and it 
was a great deal easier than rowing. The boys 
questioned the men about the “ Screamer,” but 
although one of them — the owner of the launch 
— had been on or near the water since five o’clock 
that morning, none of them had seen her. 

“ But if they’ve gone to the Breakwater it’s a 
cinch to locate her,” said the launch owner, “ for 
you know you can telephone the hotel right from 
the Landing.” 

” Shovel in the coal, I tell you! ” exclaimed a 
voice from the bottom of the launch. ” I say, 
stick the coal to her, you lubber. You can’t 
expect to get steam without fire! ” 

At this sudden outburst everyone turned in 
astonishment. The engineer was sitting up, 
consciousness regained, and his eyes no longer 
held the light of insanity. But he was talking 
loudly and earnestly, not realizing where he was. 

” Fenderson,” he called. ” Wake up, there! 
The gage is dropping! My heavens, man, if ever 
we wanted steam we want it now! Have you 
gone to sleep? Rustle that shovel lively, or I’ll 
come down there — ” 


350 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


And then the ex-engineer realized that he was 
not in the engine-room of the steam-yacht “ Sea 
Rover ” — that there was no tempest tossing his 
vessel, no fight on between steam and storm. 
With startled eyes he looked at the dingy launch, 
and into the faces of strange persons. 

“Where am I?'’ he demanded. “Where’s 
the ‘ Sea Rover ’? What has happened? ” 

Surgeons tell us that sometimes when a severe 
blow on the head has fractured the skull, a small 
portion of the bone will be forced down upon 
the brain in such a way as to disarrange its 
functions, causing in some cases loss of memory, 
or paralysis, or insanity. And then, too, they tell 
us, that sometimes when this pressure is removed 
from the brain by . the loosening and lifting away 
of the piece of bone that has been driven inward, 
the brain will resume its normal action, memory 
will return, the paralysis disappear, the insanity 
vanish. 

This is what had happened to Marshall, who one 
year before had slipped and fallen on the stoke- 
hole steps while the yacht was pitching in a 
storm, had struck his head, and become uncon- 
scious; some hours afterward regaining con- 
sciousness in an insane condition. The blow he 
had just received by his fall against the tree had 
loosened the fragment of bone that for the past 
year had been pressing on his brain, and now he 
had come back to life sane once more, to pick up 


EX - ENGINEER REAPPEARS 351 


the thread of existence just where he had dropped 
it when he fell on the stoke-hole steps — for the 
events of the year that intervened between that 
time and this would always be a blank to him. 

“ I don’t understand,” he weakly murmured. 
“ What’s the matter? ” 

Of all the persons in the launch I think that Val 
Brandon best understood what had occurred in 
the case of the engineer. He conversed with him 
quietly, recalling to his mind the conditions on 
the yacht “ Sea Rover ” during the storm, and 
that he had fallen. He explained that since that 
time his head had not been right; but that a 
blow in the same place had evidently been the 
means of his restoration. 

“ How long have I been sick? Several weeks? ” 
inquired Marshall. 

“ It’s over a year since you had the fall,” said 
Val; and at the engineer’s urgent request he 
explained — as far as he knew — what had oc- 
curred to the unfortunate man while he was 
insane. 

“ Are they taking me back to the asylum now ? ” 
he asked, with a shiver, when Val had concluded 
his story. 

“ That’s where they intended to take you, but 
after this I don’t think it wiU be necessary,” said 
Val, reassuringly. 

The engineer lay back wearily on the cushions, 
and relapsed into silence. 


352 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


In a trifle over an hour after leaving the camp 
the “ Antelope ” reached Cheney Landing, and 
the boys hurried to the telephone at the company 
store. 

Val soon got the Breakwater Hotel on the line, 
and inquired if a Mr. Dan Newton was staying 
there. After a pause for investigation the clerk 
replied that no such person was at the hotel. 

“ Didn’t two men come to your place this morn- 
ing in a motor-boat named the ‘Screamer’?” 
persisted the young skipper. 

Another short wait ensued while the clerk 
sought further information. He presently re- 
ported that two men had arrived early that 
morning in a cruising motor-boat, but as they had 
not yet registered he could not tell their names. 

“ Is it possible for you to find out the name of 
that boat? ” asked Val. “ It is extremely impor- 
tant that I should know.” 

That clerk certainly showed an accommodating 
spirit, for he made more inquiries, and presently 
said that the boat was the ” Screamer,” that she 
was tied up at the Breakwater landing, and the 
two men who had come in her were on board. 

Val next succeeded in getting connected with 
Captain Roderick in Stroudport. Briefly he told 
what had happened to the “ Screamer.” This 
was the first time the Captain had heard about 
Val’s swapping the“ Spitfire ” for the motor-boat. 
He was very much worked up over the situation. 


EX - ENGINEER REAPPEARS 353 


“ I can’t tell you the story of that boat over the 
telephone,” he insisted, in reply to Val’s questions, 
“ but you go up to Rockland and take possession. 
She’s yours, all right, and you just muckle on to 
her! Bring her over to Tillson’s wharf, and tie 
up there, and I’ll catch the very first train down 
and meet you this afternoon with all the papers 
in the case. I can settle those fellows in short 
order, and I’d just like to have the chance.” 

This assurance from the Captain comforted 
Val a great deal. 

“Boys,” he cried, turning from the instru- 
ment, “ the Captain says to go up to Rockland 
and seize the ‘ Screamer,’ and he’ll be down this 
afternoon to settle matters.” 

“ That’s the stuff! ” declared Carroll. “ Now 
we’ve started in this seizing business we’d better 
see it through to a finish.” 

By this time the steamer was already whistling 
for the Landing, and they reached the wharf just 
as the “ Governor Bodwell ” made fast. The 
men from Augusta were assisting Marshall up 
the gang-plank, and explained that it would be 
necessary to take him to the Asylum for an exam- 
ination into his mental condition ; but if it proved 
that his reason had been fully restored, he would, 
of course, be discharged. As for the engineer him- 
self, he did not as yet seem to quite realize what 
had happened to him. He was taking matters 
with calm philosophy, however, and made no 


354 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


objection to accompanying the men. It ulti- 
mately turned out that he was discharged from 
the Asylum as entirely restored to reason. 

The boys seated themselves on the forward 
deck, and kept a sharp lookout for signs of the 
missing motor-boat as the steamer moved toward 
Rockland. The “ Governor Bodwell ” would 
not touch at the Breakwater, but it might be 
possible to make out the “ Screamer if she was 
tied up there. 

“ This is where we need the binoculars,” Cal 
remarked, as they came in by the miniature light- 
house on Owl’s Head, and headed into Rockland 
Harbor, without any sign of a motor-boat re- 
sembling Val’s. “ It’s about two miles across 
the harbor at the breakwater, and we’ll probably 
be over a mile from that wharf when we pass. 
Can you read four-inch letters a mile off with the 
naked eye, old man? ” This being the size of 
the letters on the ” Screamer’s ” bow. 

But Val did not reply. The steamer was now 
abreast of the Breakwater hotel, and the boat 
landing at the foot of the slope below it, inside 
the mile-long breakwater with the white light- 
house at its end. The captain of the treasure- 
seekers secured the loan of a glass from the pilot- 
house, and scrutinized the numerous small craft 
that were anchored inside the breakwater. The 
“ Screamer ” was not among them. 

“ But she must be somewhere in the harbor,” 


EX - ENGINEER REAPPEARS 355 


declared Sumner, “ for we haven’t seen her go 
out by us.” 

In due time the “ Governor Bodwell ” reached 
her landing in Rockland. As the pilot brought 
her skilfully in Jim uttered a cry of delight. 
Two boat-lengths away a motor-boat was tied up 
at a float, and the letters on her stern spelled 
Screamer.” 


CHAPTER XX 


CONCERNING THE “ SCREAMER ** 

“We don’t go to the Breakwater then, after 
all,” remarked Val, when Jim had called their 
attention to the “ Screamer.” “ Now’s the time 
to strike! Come on! ” 

“ Have you got your bill of sale with you, Val, 
in case they kick up a fuss? ” was Carroll’s ques- 
tion, as they hurried along the wharf. 

Val nodded and tapped his coat. 

“ And we’ll get into a fuss all right, don’t you 
worry,” said he. “ It’s been nothing else ever 
since we struck Penobscot Bay, and I guess it’s 
too early for it to stop now.” 

Down the flight of steps to the float ran the 
boys, and climbed aboard the “ Screamer.” No 
one was in the cockpit, but the companionway 
was open, and they filed into the engine-room, 
not anxious for trouble but expecting it. 

Val was in the lead, but he found no one in the 
engine-room and galley. From the cabin, how- 
ever, came the sound of a subdued snore. There 
on a transom sound asleep lay a young man, 
366 


CONCERNING THE “ SCREAMER ” 357 


and a hasty inspection proved him to be the only 
person, on board. 

“ Wake up! ” said Val, shaking the sleeper, and 
he did wake, almost instantly. He sat up at 
once and regarded in wonder the four young men 
who had invaded his quiet. But before he could 
make any remarks Val spoke. 

“ WhaCs yom name? ” he demanded. 

“ Stuart,” was the surprised reply. 

“ Where’s Dan Newton? ” next inquired Val. 
An odd expression passed over the other’s 
face. 

“ Where’s who? ” he inquired, and Val repeated 
the question. 

“ Never heard of him,” he declared, positively, 

but if you want Mr. Williams, he’s gone ashore. 
He’s the owner.” 

“ Oh, is that so? ” retorted Val, somewhat 
sarcastically. “ And I believe you are the second 
mate of the ‘ Penelope,’ aren’t you? ” 

“ What’s the ‘ Penelope? ’ ” inquired Stuart. 
“ I say,” he insisted, with a show of irritation, 
“ what are you fellows doing on this boat, any- 
way? You’re altogether too fresh, that’s what 
you are. I advise you to get out of here! ” 

“ Say the word, Val,” Carroll whispered in his 
chum’s ear, “ and we’ll bundle him ashore so 
quick he’ll think he was always bundled.” 

But Val waved Carroll back. 

“ TeU me,” he went on, addressing Stuart, 


358 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“ why you and this Wilhams took the ‘ Screamer ’ 
last night? ” 

“ Oho! ” cried Stuart, rising to his feet. “ Is 
that what ails you? Well, then, I’ll teU you. This 
boat was built for Mr. Williams, and he can show 
you a clean bill of sale of her! ” 

“ If that’s the case, how did it happen that 
Captain Roderick of Stroudport came into pos- 
session of her? And what was your Mr. Williams 
doing all this time? ” 

“ I must confess that gets me, just a little,” 
admitted Stuart, with apparent candor. “ Will- 
iams had the boat built for him a year ago last 
spring in Boston and kept her at Marblehead. 
One night she disappeared, and he never saw hide 
nor hair of her imtil last week at Stroudport — ” 

” When he and Mr. Heffler were running out of 
the harbor on the ‘ Penelope,’ ” interjected Car- 
roll, “ and the ‘ Screamer ’ with three men on 
board went past.” 

“ Well, you may know what you’re talking 
about, but I don’t,” said Stuart. 

“You mean to say you never heard of the 
‘ Penelope ’? ” broke in Val, sharply. 

“ No, I never did,” was the prompt assertion. 
“ One thing is certain, though. You boys haven’t 
any business on this boat, and you can get ashore 
peaceably now, or be fired ashore with a rough- 
house a little later.” 

“ Pick up yoiir duds, and get out yourself,” 


CONCERNING THE “SCREAMER” 359 

Val ordered, by way of reply. “ This boat be- 
longs to me and I’m going to take her.” 

“ You’d better not try it,” warned Stuart, 
yet realizing he would be no match for his 
visitors. “ It’ll be the worst mess you ever 
struck.” 

“ Oh, I guess not,” said Val, grimly. “ Let’s 
chuck these suit-cases ashore, fellows, and then 
if Mr. Stuart doesn’t care to go along quietly we’ll 
chuck him ashore, too.” 

And in spite of the vigorous remonstrances of 
Stuart, Jim and Sumner picked up two suit-cases 
and some other personal property, carried them 
into the cockpit and tossed them unceremoniously 
upon the float. Then, impelled firmly toward the 
outer air by Val and Cal, Mr. Franklin Stuart — 
if that was really his name — was induced much 
against his will to take his departure from 
the “ Screamer.” I regret to state that he swore 
with great vigor during the course of his ejection, 
but he made no very determined resistance, for 
he realized that in the end anything of that sort 
would only mean more trouble for himself. He 
found himself in short order on the float beside 
the baggage, and as he watched the boys cast off 
the lines he relieved himself of sundry biting re- 
marks. 

“ Why not have him arrested for stealing? ” 
suggested Jim, as the “ Screamer ” lay at rest a 
short distance from the float, and the evicted 


360 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


one continued his slurring remarks, to which no 
one replied. 

“I’d have ’em both pinched for stealing and 
smuggling,” remarked Sumner. 

“ Easy — easy — don’t let him hear the word 
smuggling,” remonstrated Val. “ Did you ever 
see this man before? ” 

Nobody had. 

“ Then I don’t see how we can have him ar- 
rested for smuggling,” the skipper said, in an 
undertone, “ and as for stealing the ‘ Screamer,’ 
I think we’d better let that matter rest till the 
Captain shows up.” 

Carroll had started the engine — though the 
propeller was not moving — when Val turned to 
the man on the float. 

“ You’re wasting your breath,” he said, coolly. 
“ If you and Williams have any evidence to show 
why you should keep this boat, be on hand at 
three o’clock this afternoon, and we’ll be here 
ready to talk with you.” And without further 
delay the motor-boat started away from the wharf. 

“ That was easy,” said Jim, happily, grinning 
back at the discomfited Stuart, who had stopped 
talking and was merely shaking his fist after them. 

“ Lordy, but that was a pie! ” Sumner asserted, 
while Cal stuck his head out of the engine-room 
to make a comment of a similar natiure. 

Val, however, looked uneasy. 

“ I only hope,” he replied, “ that the Captain 


CONCERNING THE “SCREAMER” 361 


will show up as he promised; for if he doesn’t 
we may all get pulled in for stealing the ‘ Screamer ’ 
ourselves.” 

It lacked five minutes to three o’clock that 
afternoon when the “ Screamer ” came briskly 
up to Tillson’s wharf, and stopped a short distance 
from the float she had left earlier in the day. It 
had not been possible to return to Whale Island 
and continue the treasure search and still keep 
their appointment with Captain Roderick, so at 
Carroll’s suggestion they had run down to a place 
called Crescent Beach, where they landed and 
had a shore dinner — one that was so satisfying 
to their eager appetites that for the time-being 
it put in the background all the matters that were 
troubling them. 

There was no one on the float when the 
“ Screamer ” arrived, but within a minute two 
men appeared and came down the steps. One 
of them was Stuart ; the other was the tall, dark- 
complexioned young man they had seen with 
Heffler on the “ Penelope ” in Stroudport harbor. 

“ Do you see the Captain, boys.? ” asked Val, 
anxiously, paying no attention to the two men, 
who were calling for him to bring the boat up to 
the float. 

“ Train is due at two-forty-flve, ” remarked 
Jim, who had looked the matter up. 

“Ah, there he is,” said Val, at that moment, 


362 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


much relieved, as they saw three more men appear 
at the head of the steps, the Captain in the lead. 
When Captain Roderick saw the boys he beck- 
oned vigorously. 

“ It’s all right,” he called. “ Bring her in. 
We’re ready for ’em.” 

In response to this summons the ” Screamer ” 
ran in and made fast. Jim put the ladder over 
and the Captain got aboard. His two companions, 
however, remained at the top of the steps, while 
Stuart and his friend — who was undoubtedly 
Williams — conversed together in low tones and 
glanced uneasily from time to time up at the 
wharf as if expecting someone. 

“ Well, you’ve got her, anyhow,” remarked 
the Captain cheerily, as he shook hands all aroimd, 
” and they say possession’s nine points of the 
law.” 

” But the question is: are we going to keep 
her? ” said Val; and he hurriedly detailed the 
incidents connected with the “ Screamer’s ” dis- 
appearance, and his suspicions as to the identity 
of the men who had taken her. 

“ Where are the fellows that say this boat be- 
longs to them? ” demanded the Captain. 

” Right here,” said a strange voice behind the 
group. “ Officer, do your duty. These four 
youngsters are the ones that stole the ‘ Screamer ' 
from me this morning.” 

Unobserved by the party on the motor-boat 


CONCERNING THE “ SCREAMER 363 


during their consultation with the Captain, a 
policeman had come down to the float, and now, 
accompanied by Williams and Stuart, he came 
to the side of the cruiser. As Williams spoke the 
offlcer climbed on board. 

“ I arrest you four young men on the charge 
of stealing this boat,” he announced, and brought 
into sight papers that were presumably warrants. 

“ This is getting rather overgrown,” declared 
Captain Roderick, very much exasperated, while 
the boys, who were depending wholly on his 
efforts to get them out of the mess, said little but 
looked greatly disgusted. 

There was nothing to be done, however, but 
accompany the officer to the police station, and 
everyone went — Val, Carroll, Sumner and Jim 
accompanied by the policeman ; and gloomy 
enough they felt and looked, for it seemed like a 
great disgrace to be under arrest, even though 
innocent of any wrongdoing. Following them 
came Williams and Stuart, and behind those the 
Captain, conversing under his breath with his 
friends Thompson and Baldwin, the men who 
had accompanied him to the wharf. Before the 
station was reached, however, Mr. Thompson had 
left the party, and his object in doing so was ap- 
parent when they reached their destination, for 
the sergeant informed the arresting officer that 
the Judge who had issued the warrants had tele- 
phoned to have the prisoners brought directly 


364 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


to his office. So, without even being booked at 
the station, the four sallied out again, with their 
escort, and presently the party found themselves 
in the office of the municipal Judge, where, also, 
was Mr. Thompson. At the Judge’s invitation 
everyone became seated. 

“ I have taken this very unusual method of 
procedure,” remarked that gentleman, “because 
I am informed by Mr. Thompson that this whole 
matter is the result of a misunderstanding of the 
facts in the case. This noon Mr. Williams applied 
to me for warrants for the arrest . of four men, 
who, he asserted, had stolen his motor-boat.” 

As he said this, the Judge glanced at Williams 
and Stuart, who were sitting, rather ill at ease, 
near Thompson and Baldwin. 

“ Mr. Williams exhibited a bill of sale of the 
boat, dated over a year ago, and said she had been 
built for him in Boston. There seemed to be evi- 
dence enough to justify the arrests, so I issued 
the warrants. 

“Now if there is anything more to this case 
than appears on the siuface, let’s have it cleared 
up. Young man,” continued the Judge, address- 
ing Val, “ what have you to say? ” 

Briefly Brandon told the story of swapping 
the “ Spitfire ” for the “ Screamer,” and showed 
his copy of the agreement made with Mr. Man- 
ning. 

“ Captain Roderick sold the ‘ Screamer ’ to 


CONCERNING THE “SCREAMER” 365 

Mr. Manning,” he added. “ He brought her to 
Stroudport, and ought to know all about her.” 

All eyes now turned curiously upon the Captain, 
who for some moments had been stirring uneasily, 
though he patiently waited his turn to speak. 
But the minute he got his innings he briskly 
attacked the business in hand. 

“ Is your name Williams? ” he demanded, 
pointing a stubby forefinger at the claimant to 
the “ Screamer.” 

“ Call it Daniel Newton Williams and you’ll 
hit it nearer right,” was the reply. “ What of 
it? ” 

“ And your friend, there; he’s the second 
mate of the ‘ Penelope,’ ain’t he? ” 

“ He was the second mate, but just now he’s 
taking a vacation. But I fail to see what all this 
has to do with the case in hand.” 

“ Probably not,” was the sententious reply, 
“ but you will later.” 

At this instant Val caught Stuart’s eye, but 
that person was not at all abashed by his com- 
panion’s admissions. He grinned and winked 
knowingly, as if his prevarications had been a 
great joke. 

“ I understand, Mr. Williams,” continued the 
Captain, “ that you claim the ‘ Screamer ’ was 
built for you in Boston last year. Is that so? ” 

“ She was built for me a year ago last spring. 
I have the bill of sale here.” 


366 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“ When did you see her last — I mean till just 
recently? ” 

“ It was a year ago last June,” replied Will- 
iams, readily enough. “ I was cruising in her in 
Massachusetts Bay with a small party of friends. 
We had been down in Penobscot Bay, and were 
going south; but one afternoon a steamer ran 
into us in a heavy fog, and cut us down to the water 
line. My boat began to fill, and we, thinking she 
was going down, took to the row-boat and left 
her. It took us five hours to row ashore — we 
finally landed at Cohasset — and that was the 
last time I set eyes on her till she ran by us in 
Stroudport harbor last week. And I’m naturally 
curious to know how she was kept from sinking, 
and how you got hold of her; and, most of all, 
by what right or title you held and sold her.” 

“ Did you stay around Boston after this little 
adventure of yours? ” inquired the Captain, still 
on information bent. 

“ No, sir; I went away within a week.” 

“ Gone long? ” 

“ It was over a year ago before I set foot in 
Massachusetts again,” was the reply. 

“ Guess you didn’t read the advertisements in 
the papers, either,” grinned his interrogator, “ or 
else you’d be wiser than you seem to be now. 

“ Your honor,” and Captain Roderick turned 
to the Judge, “ I think likely enough this gentle- 
man owned the ‘ Screamer ’ at one time ; in fact, 


CONCERNING THE “SCREAMER’’ 367 


I know that she was built for a man named Will- 
iams — the builder’s books show it ; but he hasn’t 
got a ghost of a title to her now, and I’ll tell you 
why. 

“A year ago last June — and I guess it was 
pretty soon after the collision we have just heard 
about — this motor-boat was picked up aban- 
doned in Massachusetts Bay by a T- Wharf fishing 
schooner. She was badly stove for’rard, and 
otherwise used up, and about half-full of water 
to boot. They patched her up temporarily and 
towed her into Boston, and had a hard time doing 
it — lost her twice in a blow, and spent a pile of 
time chasing after her — but she looked valuable 
to them, so they stuck to the job. 

“ They advertised her in the Boston papers, 
but never got any response; so, finally, to pay 
them for their trouble they turned her over to a 
Commissioner of Wrecks and libelled her for 
salvage. When their case came up no one ap- 
peared to defend the suit for the boat’s owner, 
and the fishermen got judgnient of several hun- 
dred dollars against the craft for their work. 
Nothing was heard from the owner even then, so, 
after the Commissioner had held the boat the 
length of time required by law — I believe it was 
a year — he advertised her, and sold her at public 
auction, and I bought her.” 

This, then, was the hidden chapter in the 
“Screamer’s” history — this was the simple 


368 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


explanation of a matter that had seemed very 
mysterious. 

“ And that’s where I got my title to the boat, 
Mr. Williams,” the Captain declared, somewhat 
dramatically flourishing a paper as he spoke; 
“ and here’s my bill of sale from the proper au- 
thorities.” 

“ But where do I come in? I paid good money 
for that motor-boat,” said Williams, turning 
appealingly to the Judge. 

“ I guess you had better consult the Commis- 
sioner of Wrecks,” replied that person. “ It 
seems you had a whole year in which to claim 
yoiu: property before she was sold, and certainly 
she was pretty well advertised.” 

“ But I thought she had sunk,” was the quick 
retort; “ and under the circumstances there was 
no reason why I should either advertise for her 
myself or watch the papers for advertisements 
about her.” 

“ And, besides,” suddenly broke in Thompson, 
“ away down there in Newfoundland you didn’t 
see the Boston papers very often, did you? Rather 
lonesome, in fact, wasn’t it, part of the time at 
least? ” 

At Thompson’s unexpected query both Will- 
iams and Stuart turned their faces toward the 
speaker — faces from which the color had suddenly 
gone, though they still maintained their com- 
posure. 


CONCERNING THE “SCREAMER” 369 


“ What do you know about Newfoundland? ” 
Williams managed to ask, after an instant’s pause; 
and the Judge and everyone else but the Captain 
and Baldwin turned inquiringly toward Thomp- 
son. 

“ He was in Newfoundland, Judge,” asserted 
that individual. “ In fact, they were both of 
them there — that is, they divided their time 
between Newfoundland and the coast of Maine — 
for about a year. I wish you would ask them 
what they were doing there.” 

“ Why — why — ” stammered Williams, now 
actually startled out of his calmness, but quickly 
regaining his nerve; “ we were there on a matter 
of personal business — and to see the country, 
too.” 

“Yes, I rather think you were,” Thompson 
retorted, drily, “ both you and Stuart. If you 
will permit me. Judge, I will say that we have 
evidence to show that the pair of them were down 
there in Newfoundland getting together parties of 
Chinamen which they were afterwards instru- 
mental in smuggling into the United States down 
here on the coast of Maine.” 

A red flush slowly overspread Williams’ face 
as Thompson made this serious charge against 
him. Hot words rose to his lips, but before he 
could utter them the other continued. 

And yesterday they both helped to bring 
into Penobscot Bay a party of Chinese on the 


370 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


yacht ‘ Penelope,’ and transshipped them to the 
fishing steamer ‘ Dorabelle ’ near Whale Island.” 

“ It’s a lie! ” declared Williams and Stuart in 
loud unison, starting to their feet. Thompson 
and Baldwin also arose, and the latter stepped 
toward the door. 

“ Let me tell you something you don’t seem 
to know,” said Thompson, gravely regarding the 
pair, whose agitation was evident in every feature. 
“ After you left the schooner last night, aground 
down near Whale Island, these young men whom 
you have had arrested on a false charge captimed 
the ‘ Dorabelle ’ with her crew and her cargo of 
smuggled Chinese, and handed her over to the 
revenue cutter, which seized the schooner as well. 
Both vessels reached Stroudport this morning, 
the ‘ Penelope ’ in tow of the cutter.” 

“ I admit being on the ‘ Penelope ’ last week,” 
said Williams, “ but there were no Chinese on her 
then, and I certainly know of no smuggling 
plot.” 

“ Lying won’t do you any good,” was the terse 
reply. “ Pike has confessed and we know every- 
thing. We are United States officers, and you 
can both consider yourselves under arrest.” 

Instantly the eyes of the two smugglers turned 
toward the door as if they meditated a break for 
liberty ; but they saw the bulky form of Baldwin 
barring the way. Scowling, they sank back into 
their seats. Their career of lawlessness, which had 


CONCERNING THE “ SCREAMER ” 371 


held out alluring promises of easily gotten money, 
had been abruptly checked, as it deserved to be, 
and it was no wonder they now felt glum with 
prison staring them in the face. 

After the excitement occasioned by this arrest 
had quieted down the Judge proceeded to dispose 
of the case against the four boys, and he did it 
in very short order; for he simply affirmed it as 
his opinion that in view of the evidence submitted 
Val had a clear title to the “ Screamer,” and dis- 
charged them from the custody of his court as 
innocent of the charge on which they had been 
arrested. 

The officers then departed with their prisoners ; 
but the boys and Captain Roderick lingered to 
shake hands with the Judge, and to thank him 
for cutting legal red tape and disposing of their 
case so promptly. 

“ Just for curiosity I would like to know what 
those fellows were doing in Massachusetts Bay 
with that motor-boat when they were run down,” 
remarked the man of the law, as the group spent 
a few moments in discussion of the case. “ It is 
safe to say, at any rate, that it was something 
unlawful; for it does not appear that when the 
party rowed ashore from the supposedly sinking 
boat they reported their mishap to any one; for 
if news of the accident had become public there 
would have been no difficulty on the part of the 
fishermen in tracing the owner of the ‘ Screamer ’ 


372 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


when they brought her into Boston — or so at 
least it looks to me. 

“ But as for you young men,” he added genially; 
“ as soon as Inspector Thompson told me of the 
brave way you tackled that steamer last night 
to help out Uncle Sam, I made up my mind you 
weren’t in the boat-stealing business. I am siure 
the facts bear me out. Good-bye.” 

Jubilation reigned on board the “ Screamer ” 
when, after saying good-bye to the Captain as 
he left them to take the train back to Stroudport, 
the boys started for camp. Their enemies had 
been routed, and they had well earned the five 
hundred dollar reward while doing it. Now, at 
last, it seemed that the search for the tilting rock 
might go on without interruption, and as the 
motor-boat glided smoothly down the bay they 
laid further plans for finding the treasure. 

When they sighted the cove Jim suddenly re- 
membered the lobster pot; so they ran out to 
the float, picked up the line and hoisted the pot 
on board. Everybody gazed eagerly as it came 
dripping out of the water. 

“ I can count a dozen,” Jim announced, with 
his eyes close to the slats. “Twelve, by gum! 
and they’re all busters! ” 

“ Then this is where I fill up,” declared Sumner, 
“for I never yet had all the lobster I wanted at 
one time.” 

They found the camp undistiurbed ; and the 


CONCERNING THE “SCREAMER’^ 373 


first thing they did was to build a roaring fire in 
the fire-place, set on the biggest kettle, and boil 
the entire catch. When they had finished supper 
they all had eaten lobster till they could hardly 
breathe. 

Jim set his burglar alarm that night, but nothing 
came to disturb their slumbers. Right after 
sunrise the next morning they hustled down for 
their morning exercise and plunge ; breakfast 
followed in short order, and then all embarked 
on the “ Screamer,” and out of the cove they 
went, heading northward till they reached the 
former location of the cross. They had brought 
all the paraphernalia used the day before, and 
a lantern besides ; but for the present they hurried 
up the hillside over the line already laid out, for 
no one felt that it had been carried to a 
finish. 

“ And ril just bet you anything you want to 
say there’ll be something doing around that old 
house,” was Sumner’s positive declaration. 

“ There are two places about it that we haven’t 
explored yet,” agreed Carroll; “ the cellar and the 
garret.” 

When at last they came in sight of the dilapi- 
dated structure it looked much less dismal in the 
bright sunlight than it had in the fog of the day 
before. Jim Hilton, to whom this was all new 
country, ran ahead and stood on the door- 
step. 


374 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


“Is it nine hundred and fifty feet to here, 
boys? ” he inquired. “ Then, by gum, the tilting 
rock must be in the cellar.” He pushed the door 
open and went in, followed impetuously by the 
others. 

Sumner lighted the lantern and led the way 
down a flight of rickety stairs to the cellar. They 
found it to be a regular dungeon of a place, into 
which little light came except that afforded by 
the lantern. Windowless stone walls enclosed it, 
and in the centre stood the base of the huge 
chimney, occupying a space about ten feet square. 
The cellar floor was dirt, and the atmosphere was 
heavy with a damp, musty odor. 

“ There is no tilting rock here,” commented Sum- 
ner in a disappointed tone. “ Let’s go on ’round 
the chimney, for maybe it’s on the other side.” 
And he led the way around to the right followed 
by Val and Carroll; but Jim, who had already 
of his own accord started to the left, kept on in 
that direction alone, for the lantern somewhat 
dispelled the darkness ahead of him, though it 
was on the other side of the cellar. 

The others did not notice that Jim had left them, 
and they had advanced but a few feet when they 
heard him utter an exclamation of alarm. 

“ Come quick, fellows! ” he cried. “ I’m falling 
through! ” Then followed a scratching and 
scraping, and the muffled sound of a fall. 

Instantly Val, Cal, and Sumner ran around 


CONCERNING THE “ SCREAMER ” 375 


the chimney; but when Sumner flashed the lan- 
tern about in the space where they supposed Jim 
to be, there was nothing there but the empty 
cellar. 


CHAPTER XXI 


AT THE END OF THE SEARCH 

To say that the sudden disappearance of Jim 
Hilton created a sensation among his companions 
is to state the truth in a very mild way. Greatly 
alarmed and mystified by the strange happening, 
Val, Cal and Sum advanced slowly into that part 
of the cellar that Jim had so lately entered, calling 
his name again and again as they did so. 

And then, to their amazement, from the very 
ground at their feet came the muffled tones of 
Jim’s voice calling for aid. Their eyes instantly 
turned downward, and they discovered something 
they had not before noticed. Set in the ground 
close to the chimney, in a sort of casing of masonry, 
its upper side level with the cellar bottom, was a 
smooth slab of stone, about eight feet long and 
close to four feet wide. Somewhere underneath 
this stone was Jim, for his agitated voice came up 
muffled through the cracks between the slab and 
its casing. 

“ ril be jiggered,” began Val. “ Jim,” he 
loudly called, kneeling and placing his lips near 
376 


THE END OF THE SEARCH 377 


the edge of the stone, “ what on earth happened 
to you? ” 

“ That big stone tipped down at one end 
and let me down into a hole,” was the reply. 
“ Heavens, I thought you would never answer 
me; for it tipped back again and shut me down 
here.” 

“Are you hurt, old man? ” Cal demanded. 

“ No, but it’s darker’n Egypt. Just tip that 
stone down again, won’t you, and let me out? ” 

“ You bet we will! ” said Val, and they pro- 
ceeded to jounce on first one end of the slab and 
then on the other, but in spite of all their efforts 
it refused to tip down as Jim said it had done 
before. 

“ I guess we can do better business by pry- 
ing it up with the crowbar,” said Sumner, at 
length. 

“ It’s no use, Jim,” he continued, speaking into 
the crack. “ We can’t tip it. How far’d you drop, 
and can you touch the stone? ” 

Jim couldn’t touch the stone, and thought he 
must have dropped about ten feet straight down. 
He had landed uninjured on a soft bottom, but 
there were stone walls on three sides of the well- 
like hole he was in, while on the fourth he could 
feel an opening — possibly a passage leading off. 

“ I haven’t got a single match, fellows,” he 
complained, “ and it’s simply rotten dark and 
horribly musty here. For goodness’ sake hurry 


378 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


up and start that stone somehow, and get me 

out.’* 

“ We are hurrying, old man,” protested Sumner, 
as he 'seized the crowbar and tried to force its 
point into the crack at the edge of the slab. “ But 
111 bet you anything you want to name that this 
is the tilting rock, and I wish you’d feel round 
and see if there isn’t some treasure down there. 
Say, don’t you see anything of the treasure, Jim? ” 
he continued, after several ineffectual attempts 
to insert the bar. 

But this query was too much for Jim, immured 
in the pitch darkness of the hole and nervously 
awaiting release. 

“ Treasure! ” he snorted, indignantly. “ What 
do you think I am? A lightning bug? See if 
you can’t squeeze some matches down to me so 
I can look around. All I can see is a little glimmer 
in the cracks overhead.” 

Thereupon Carroll tucked a match down into 
the crack, and after a little fumbling Jim found 
and lighted it. 

“ It’s like a well, built square, without any 
water,” he presently reported, “ only there’s a 
tunnel running out of it on one side.” 

“ Do you see any treasure chest? ” again asked 
Sumner, who had stopped trying to pry up the 
stone and placed his ear to the crack. “ Why 
don’t you explore the tunnel? Maybe it’s in 
there.” 


THE END OF THE SEARCH 379 


“ Maybe it is; but how much exploring do you 
imagine I can do with one match? ” growled back 
Jim, as he burned his fingers. “ You don’t think 
I’m anxious to wander off in the dark and fall 
down another hole, do you? ” 

This query silenced Sumner, and he resumed 
his efforts with the bar, though he could not seem 
to get the point far enough into the crack to 
obtain any leverage, for the stone fitted its casing 
quite closely. Carroll proceeded to poke the entire 
supply of matches — barely a dozen — down to 
Jim one at a time; but Val’s attention was sud- 
denly attracted by a group of marks on the stone. 
He moved the lantern over for a closer inspection 
and, to his astonishment, discovered cut in the 
surface of the slab near the back several lines of 
characters similar to those of the two ciphers. In 
exultation he showed them to his companions. 

“ I’ll bet if we can translate them it’ll tell us 
how to move the rock,” he declared with convic- 
tion. 

“ And probably say where the treasure is, too,” 
added Sumner. “ Here, fellows; I’ve got the old 
tally paper to set ’em down on. Let’s get busy 
translating or I shall bu’st! ” 

The boys were pretty well wrought up before 
by the strange accident to Jim, but this latest 
discovery simply put them on the keen edge of 
excitement. As for Jim, nothing had been heard 
from that individual since he got hold of more 


380 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


matches. They now called to him repeatedly, 
but without response. 

“ ril bet he’s gone exploring that tunnel,” said 
Sumner, rather wistfully. “Come on; let’s get 
to work! ” 

“ Then here goes,” said Val, as he proceeded 
to blow away the dust and dirt that clung to the 
lines of the mysterious characters. “ Now, let’s 
see; shall we let each line to the left count one, 
each line to the right three, and each short vertical 
line count five? That’s the combination that 
solved the Tower Island cipher, and we might 
as well start this with it, I think.” 

And that is what they did. Down in the dusk 
of that ancient cellar, with only a flickering lan- 
tern for light, the three boys bent low over the 
slab and worked earnestly to extract the meaning 
from the odd characters that someone, many years 
before, had cut in the stone. Taking the values 
suggested, the first character totalled twenty-one, 
which represented “ U.” Then followed in rapid 
succession “ N,” “ D,” “ E,” and “ R.” 

“ Under,” announced Sumner, who was setting 
down the letters. “ Lordy, but we’re hot on the 
trail, all right.” 

A few minutes more of rapid work completed a 
sentence. It came, of course, with the words 
jumbled together, but after a little thought it 
was arranged as follows: 

“ Under this rock lies treasure.” 


THE END OF THE SEARCH 381 


“ What did I tell you, fellows! ” almost shouted 
Sumner, in his unbounded enthusiasm executing 
a sort of a jig that threatened to upset the lantern. 
‘‘ What did I tell you? ” 

“ Keep quiet, will you, kid! remonstrated 
Carroll, with simulated impatience, though his 
own voice broke with excitement. “ There’s 
a lot more to it. Come back here and let’s finish 
this thing.” 

But Sumner knelt and placed his lips to the 
crack at the edge of the slab. 

“Jim!” he loudly called. “Jim! There’s 
treasure down there! Look out for it! ” 

Up to this moment the imprisoned member 
of the party had maintained the silence that fol- 
lowed his receipt of the second supply of matches ; 
but now his voice replied eagerly to Sumner’s. 

“ I’ve found it, boys! ” was his surprising 
declaration. “ It’s down here — I’ve found it! ” 

“ What have you found? ” asked Val. 

“ A chest, and it rattles as if there was money 
inside of it! ” was the quick reply. “ Brace up 
and open that trap door, for I’ve found the treas- 
ure, sure! ” 

It was a very energetic trio that now hustled 
along the translation of the cipher ; but it was done 
at last, and when they had divided it into words, 
here is what they found: 

“ Under this rock lies treasure. Let him who 
finds make no foolish use lest evil come from 


382 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


treasure gotten by ill means. Press iron knob 
on chimney and push down rock at right.” 

That was all, but you can weU imagine that 
by this time the boys scarcely knew whether they 
were on their heads or their feet. Val held the 
lantern over near the chimney, and, sure enough, 
there was an iron knob projecting from the stone- 
work about four feet from the ground. 

“ I’ll push this in,” he said, placing his hand 
on the projection, “ and when I do so, you two 
step gently on the right-hand end of the slab. 
Don’t step too hard, for you might be swallowed 
up, too. Look out, Jim,” he cautioned that person. 
“ We’re going to try and open your trap door.” 

The knob was pushed in with some effort, but 
no sooner had this been done than the slab 
yielded under the pressure of Cal and Sum’s feet, 
and the right end tipped down, swinging ap- 
parently on an axle that passed through it cross- 
wise, about midway of its length. As the right 
end tipped down, the left of course tipped up, till 
at last the slab stood on end, a trifle less than half 
of it being below and a trifle more than half above 
the cellar floor, while the walled-up hole into 
which Jim had fallen yawned at their feet. 

Jim must have pushed in that knob when he 
came around here in the dark,” said Carroll, as, 
after bracing the slab in a vertical position with 
the bar, they peered down into the opening. ‘ ‘ Then 
he stepped on the right end of the stone, and it 



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THE END OF THE SEARCH 383 


let him through before he could help himself. 
The stone being heavier on the other end it tipped 
back and closed the hole as soon as he had gone 
through. There must be some kind of a latch that 
catches it on the under side.” And investigation 
proved this to be the case, the latch being 
operated by the knob, and snapping automati- 
cally into position when the slab swung to a 
horizontal position. 

“ Jim! ” called Val, anxiously. “ Where are 
you, Jim? ” 

Jim was not visible at the bottom of the hole, 
which the lantern illuminated dimly. To their 
wonder the air of the shaft was laden with the 
odor of burning pitch; but this was explained in 
another moment, for as they eagerly called for 
Jim, that person appeared in the passageway that 
led out of the pit to the right. In one hand he 
held a blazing pitch-pine torch, that cast an uneven 
flare around on the rough stones ; • with his other 
hand he was tugging something that looked like a 
box. 

“ Here's the chest, boys! ” he cried, exultantly, 
turning an excited face up toward his mates, and 
coughing a little from the smoke. “ I found it 
up at the end of this tunnel, along with a bundle 
of pine knots. Help me get it out of here, 
will you? ” 

Would they help him? Well, wasn't that what 
they were there for? But it was certainly a tug 


384 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


getting that heavy chest up from the bottom of 
the hole. It was not a large chest, as chests go, 
but it was made of stout oak, bound with heavy 
bands of wrought iron, and fastened with a large 
lock of ancient pattern; while from its interior 
came the rattle and clink of the metal which added 
greatly to the weight of the whole. 

But when you have thought of treasure and 
talked of treasure for a whole year, and at last 
find it in your grasp, and not the figment of a 
dream or the vision of your imagination, the excite- 
ment of the moment is apt to brace up your 
muscles a little. Val lowered himself into the 
hole — there were no steps, but the uneven 
edges of the stones in the wall afforded a good 
foothold — and between them he and Jim got 
the chest on their shoulders and then above their 
heads ; and then Carroll and Sumner reached down 
and grasped it from overhead, and lifted it up 
to the cellar floor. Jim then climbed out, but 
Val, Cal, and Sumner had to take a look at the 
tunnel where the treasure had been discovered. 
It was not much to see — only a narrow passage 
about thirty feet long, running out under the 
back of the house, and terminating against a 
rough mass of dirt and rocks that looked very 
much as if the tunnel had once extended farther, 
but had caved in. So they didn’t spend many 
moments in that gloomy region, but soon rejoined 
Jim in the cellar. The slab was then allowed to 


THE END OF THE SEARCH 385 


fall back to a horizontal position, and they car- 
ried the chest and their belongings up-stairs and 
out of doors. 

“ Shall we open it here, or wait till we get to 
the ‘Screamer’?” asked Sumner, inspecting 
the curious old chest with delighted eyes. 

“We can soon break in with the crowbar,” 
replied Jim; and, suiting the action to the word, 
he inserted the end of the bar near the fastening, 
pried vigorously, and the rusty metal parted 
with a loud snap. Val pulled the cover open, 
and there to their eager eyes was revealed the 
treasure of Whale Island. Coins of dull gold, and 
silver coins black with tarnish, filled the chest 
even full with its top. They grasped them by 
the handsful and examined them wonderingly. 

“Pieces of eight — doubloons!” murmured 
Sumner, diving his hands deeply into the chest 
and letting the coins run through his fingers. 
“ Lordy, fellows, this can’t be true. Pinch me, 
and see if I’m not asleep, for I bet I’ll wake up 
in a minute! ” 

“ Nothing but gold and silver,” remarked Jim, 
presently, after they had gloated awhile over 
their discovery. “ There isn’t a single jewel in 
the bunch, nor — nor an ingot.” 

“ What an ungrateful sinner you are,” laughed 
Val, happily. “ But what’s this? ” and as he 
spoke he pulled from among the coins a small box 
of tarnished silver. Unfastening the diminutive 


386 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


clasp that secured its hinged cover, he opened 
it, and there gleaming and glistening under the 
rays of the forenoon sun lay a little heap of the 
handsomest unset diamonds they had ever seen. 

“ Here’s the jewels, Jim,” cried Carroll, lean- 
ing over Val’s shoulder to look. ” Aren’t they 
corkers, though! But as for the ingots, I guess 
we will have to pass them up till we find another 
treasure. Try to bear up under the disappoint- 
ment, old man! ” 

They never knew exactly how they got that 
chest down to the “ Screamer,” along with their 
other traps. They seemed to be in a sort of daze, 
or a dream from which they might at any minute 
be rudely awakened. However, after a fashion 
they did succeed in getting back to camp, and 
on the way they emptied the contents of the 
chest on the cockpit floor and sorted the gold 
coins from the silver. They were jubilant to find 
that the gold were largely in the majority. As 
nearly as they could estimate there were about 
seventy-five pounds of them, and perhaps forty 
of the silver. There were just thirty-five dia- 
monds. As they had no scales of any kind, the 
estimating of weight was altogether guess-work; 
but they came to the conclusion that there might 
be about twenty-five thousand dollars’ worth of 
the gold coins, and maybe five hundred dollars’ 
worth of the silver. The coins were very curious, 
and unlike anything they had ever seen. Both 


THE END OF THE SEARCH 387 


gold and silver were of foreign mintage, dated 
back in the eighteenth century, and bore in- 
scriptions in a language that none of them could 
read, though Carroll declared it to be Spanish. 

“ Treasure from the Spanish main, boys,” he 
asserted, strongly. “ Ill-gotten gains looted from 
some old merchantman, I’ll bet ; but we will never 
know,” he added, regretfully, “ just where it 
came from, nor how it happened to be buried 
under that old house, for there wasn’t a scrap 
to tell us anything about it except that it was 
ill-gotten.” 

However, his companions thought they could 
stand the strain of not knowing so long as the 
chest and its contents were a very tangible reality. 

The instant they landed at the camp they 
worked with might and main to get everything 
on board of the “ Screamer.” “ Ho for Stroud- 
port!” was the unanimous cry. No one cared 
to stay an instant longer on Whale Island. Each 
wanted to get that treasure back to civilization 
and find out how much it amounted to. Nobody 
asked for dinner — no one could talk of much 
except treasure. 

In just one half-hour from the time they re- 
turned from the old house they had taken down 
the tent, and stowed it on the motor-boat with 
all their other effects, filled the water tank with 
fresh water from the brook, hoisted the tender 
on board, and started for home. That was about 


388 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


noon. The “ Screamer ” reeled off the miles 
back to Stroudport without a hitch, and at seven 
o’clock that evening ran in at the yacht-club, 
and the momentous trip to Whale Island was 
ended. 

My story is about told, and I will not weary 
you with the details of how they disposed of the 
treasure so that it netted them to the best ad- 
vantage, except to say that a large number of 
the coins were sold to collectors for sums far 
above their face value, and the amount realized 
from them all was about thirty thousand dollars. 
In addition to this, the diamonds brought nearly 
twenty thousand dollars additional, which, with 
the five hundred dollars’ reward for capturing the 
smugglers that was eventually paid to them, 
made the total amount realized as the result of 
their trip just about fifty thousand dollars. 

Later in the fall all of the boys were called upon 
to testify in coiurt against the smugglers ; and the 
latter — Captain Field, Pike, alias Fenderson, 
who had yielded too easily to temptation, San- 
ders, Hixon, Heffler, Dan Newton Williams, and 
Stuart, were convicted of smuggling, and sen- 
tenced to various terms in state’s prison. The 
po’gy steamer “ Dorabelle ” and the schooner- 
yacht “ Penelope ” were confiscated by the gov- 
ernment, condemned, and sold at auction. The 
downfall of the smuggling scheme was complete. 

There were two questions, however, which 


THE END OF THE SEARCH 389 


troubled the boys from the very first after the 
treasure was found. The first was : to what share 
was Professor Strodder entitled? and the second: 
was the owner of Whale Island entitled to a share? 
These two questions formed the basis of many an 
earnest argument. Each wanted to do the right 
thing, but no two could seem to agree on the same 
course. 

At last they hit upon an idea. They would 
write Professor Strodder — who, it will be re- 
membered, had dreamed the dream that led to 
the finding of the Stone Horse Island cipher — 
and to Charles Vinal, who was the real owner 
of Whale Island, and tell them what had hap- 
pened, and ask each what share he thought he 
ought to have. After some delay the address of 
the Professor was obtained from Mr. Padgett of 
Codville, with whom he had boarded the previous 
summer, and that of Mr. Vinal was secured from 
Manager Killen of the Blue Hill Granite Company. 
It was some time before an answer came from 
Mr. Vinal, for he was absent in Europe, but a 
reply came from the Professor quickly enough, 
from a little town in Massachusetts. It said: 

“My dear Young Friends: — Accept my 
heartfelt congratulations on the successful out- 
come of your strenuous search for treasure. Al- 
though I was unwittingly the means of helping 
to find one of the two ciphers of which you speak, 


390 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


yet as I have borne none of the hardships of the 
search I scarcely feel that I am entitled to share 
in the reward. 

“ However, since you seem to feel that some- 
thing may be due me I will state that I am en- 
gaged in the propagation of a parasitic insect 
that is bound to be the means of exterminating 
not only the gypsy moth but also the brown-tail 
moth, both of which are working such havoc 
amongthe trees of New England, and even beyond. 

“ If you feel kindly disposed toward your old 
friend, send me five hundred dollars to help out 
the good work of propagation, and you will earn 
the heartfelt gratitude of hundreds of thousands 
of people who are suffering from the ravages of 
these pestiferous insects. 

“ Yours truly, 

“ J. Lowton Strodder.” 

“Five hundred dollars — a mere bagatelle!” 
sniffed Jim, loftily. 

“ Well, then, let’s send him an even thousand, 
and earn twice as much gratitude from those 
bug-ridden folks,” suggested Sumner. 

Val and Carroll concurred in this, and a check 
for a thousand dollars was eventually sent to 
the Professor. 

The communication which came at last from 
the owner of Whale Island was read with great 
interest, Val had written the letter to Mr. Vinal, 


THE END OF THE SEARCH 391 


giving a full description of the ciphers, the way 
they had discovered their meaning, and an outline 
of the tribulations passed through in the search . So 
the reply was addressed to Val, and ran as follows : 

“ My dear Sir: — I was very much interested 
in your letter, and to know that at last someone 
had discovered the significance of that old iron 
cross that stood during my boyhood on the east- 
ern shore of Whale Island. The stone slab in 
the cellar of the old house I distinctly remember 
seeing at one time, when as a boy I explored the 
ancient structure with some friends — without 
however having the slightest idea that it might 
cover hidden treasure. 

“You ask me what portion of the treasure 
I think you ought to give me. My dear young 
man, my father left me so large a fortune when 
he died that I have found difficulty ever since in 
disposing of the income, and under those cir- 
cumstances I see no reason why you should give 
me anything simply because you found it on 
land that belongs to me. Neither I, nor, so far 
as I know, any of my ancestry, had an 3 rthing to 
do with placing it there, and since its discovery 
was due solely to the pluck and ingenuity of 
yourself and your companions, I certainly think 
you should keep it all. 

“ Sincerely yours, 

“ Charles Vinal.’' 


392 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


This letter determined the disposition of the 
treasure. After sending one thousand dollars 
to the Professor there would be left about forty- 
nine thousand dollars. Just divide this amount 
by four and you will find out what each of the 
boys received as his share. 

While this correspondence was progressing and 
the disposal of the treasure being made, Jim 
Hilton — who was supposed to be boarding at 
Harpsboro with his sister — was spending most of 
his time in and around Stroudport with one or 
another, or all three, of his friends. It was late 
in the afternoon of one of those days in July that 
the “ Screamer,’’ with the four on board, was 
speeding swiftly toward the city from the di- 
rection of Harpsboro, where they had just landed 
Mr. and Mrs. Manning, Dorothy and Grace, 
Madge Hilton and her cousin Vic Whitcomb, after 
a day’s trip to Biddeford Pool and up the Saco 
River. 

“ WTiat are you going to do with all your money, 
boys? ” suddenly inquired Jim, rousing from the 
quiet mood that had overtaken him. 

“ ‘ Let him who finds make no foolish use lest 
evil come from treasure gotten by ill means,’ ” 
quoted Sumner, in a subdued tone. “ What are 
you going to do with yours, Val? ” 

“ Going to put part of mine into a partnership 
with Mr. Culberson in the life insurance business,” 
was the reply. 


THE END OF THE SEARCH 393 


“ How about you, Cal? ” 

“ Oh, I’ll invest it in good securities, and use 
the income to pay my college expenses, instead 
of letting Dad pay ’em all. After I’m through 
college I’ll study law; then I’ll run for Congress, 
and after that you’ll see me landed in the White 
House; and the crest on my stationery will be a 
triangle with a tower, a whale, and a horse at the 
corners.” 

They all laughed at this sally; but Jim sobered 
as he remarked: 

“ I’ll finish high school this year, and then I’m 
going to study electricity at ‘ Tech,’ and specialize 
on telephone engineering — ” 

“ And about the time that Cal lands in Wash- 
ington we’ll get a long-distance message that 
you’ve got Edison done to a finish,” Val broke in. 
“ But what is our little Sumner going to do with 
all his hard cash? ” 

What Sumner at that particular moment may 
have decided to do will never be known — he has 
changed his mind several times since, which may 
be excused in a youth of his age — for just as 
the “ Screamer ” turned the buoy on Brimstone 
Point Ledge and headed fair for Stroudport 
harbor, a motor-boat that for some minutes had 
been working down toward them from the direc- 
tion of the Foreside ranged alongside. It was the 
“ Ginger,” with Rad, Alf, and a party of ladies 
aboard. 


394 


AN ISLAND SECRET 


There was a toot of defiance from the “ Ginger,” 
to which the “ Screamer ” imhesitatingly re- 
sponded, and the race was on. Nip and tuck, 
tooth and nail, taking no chances, and coddling 
the engines as though they were sick babies, they 
coaxed and cajoled the two boats to show their 
top speed. In past Fort Gorges, past schooners 
and barges and tramp steamers at anchor, past 
bay steamers outbound filled with crowds for the 
island theatre, on they drove, first one and then 
the other gaining a temporary advantage; but 
at the last, as on the morning at Harpsboro, the 
“ Screamer ” proved herself the faster, and came 
in at the yacht-club landing a clean winner. 

“ Well, I just guess he didn’t catch us with our 
engine all gummed up that time,” cried Sumner 
happily, as they bumped the float. And, after 
making all snug, they went off up the wharf, four 
abreast and arm in arm, joyously singing: 

“ There are no flies on us, 

There are no flies on us. 

No flies on us. 

There may be one or two 
Great big fat flies on you ; 

There are no flies on us. 

No flies on us ! ” 


THE END, 




















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